Lok James
Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA.
Mob Genet Elements. 2013 Mar 1;3(2):e24417. doi: 10.4161/mge.24417.
In addition to their natural role in eukaryotic genome evolution, transposons can be powerful tools for functional genomics in diverse taxa. The transposon has been applied as such in eukaryotic parasites, both protozoa and helminths, and in several important vector mosquitoes. is advantageous for functional genomics because of its ability to transduce a wide range of taxa, its capacity to integrate large DNA 'cargoes' relative to other mobile genetic elements, its propensity to target transcriptional units and its ability to re-mobilize without leaving a pattern of non-excised sequences or 'footprint' in the genome. We recently demonstrated that can integrate transgenes into the genome of the parasitic nematode , an important model for parasitic nematode biology and a close relative of the significant human pathogen . Unlike transgenes encoded in conventional plasmid vectors, which we assume are assembled into multi-copy episomal arrays as they are in , transgenes integrated via are not only stably inherited in , they are also continuously expressed. This has allowed derivation of the first stable transgene expressing lines in any parasitic nematode, a significant advance in the development of functional genomic tools for these important pathogens.
除了在真核生物基因组进化中发挥自然作用外，转座子还可以成为不同分类群功能基因组学的强大工具。转座子已在真核寄生虫（原生动物和蠕虫）以及几种重要的病媒蚊子中作为功能基因组学工具得到应用。它对功能基因组学具有优势，因为它能够转导广泛的分类群，相对于其他移动遗传元件，它有能力整合大片段DNA“货物”，它倾向于靶向转录单元，并且它能够重新移动而不会在基因组中留下未切除序列或“足迹”模式。我们最近证明，[转座子名称]可以将转基因整合到寄生线虫[线虫名称]的基因组中，[线虫名称]是寄生线虫生物学的重要模型，也是重要人类病原体[病原体名称]的近亲。与传统质粒载体中编码的转基因不同（我们假设它们像在[参照物种名称]中一样组装成多拷贝附加体阵列），通过[转座子名称]整合的转基因不仅在[线虫名称]中稳定遗传，而且还持续表达。这使得在任何寄生线虫中首次获得稳定的转基因表达系成为可能——这是这些重要病原体功能基因组学工具开发中的一项重大进展。
