Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France.
EMBO Rep. 2010 Apr;11(4):241-2. doi: 10.1038/embor.2010.31. Epub 2010 Feb 26.
Long thought to be genomic junk, domesticated transposons have turned out to be an incredible source of new genes. Two studies—one this issue of EMBO reports—show that a domesticated hAT transposase is a transcriptional repressor of IGF2 that regulates muscle growth and has over 1,200 additional putative targets in the mammalian genome.
长期以来,人们一直认为驯化的转座子是基因组垃圾,但事实证明,它们是新基因的不可思议的来源。两项研究——本期的 EMBO 报告中的一项——表明,一种驯化的 hAT 转座酶是 IGF2 的转录抑制剂,可调节肌肉生长,并且在哺乳动物基因组中还有超过 1200 个潜在的靶标。