Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Trends Plant Sci. 2014 May;19(5):320-6. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2014.01.014. Epub 2014 Mar 4.
Transposons are selfish genetic sequences that can increase their copy number and inflict substantial damage on their hosts. To combat these genomic parasites, plants have evolved multiple pathways to identify and silence transposons by methylating their DNA. Plants have also evolved mechanisms to limit the collateral damage from the antitransposon machinery. In this review, we examine recent developments that have elucidated many of the molecular workings of these pathways. We also highlight the evidence that the methylation and demethylation pathways interact, indicating that plants have a highly sophisticated, integrated system of transposon defense that has an important role in the regulation of gene expression.
转座子是自私的遗传序列，可以增加其拷贝数，并对其宿主造成严重损害。为了对抗这些基因组寄生虫，植物进化出了多种途径，通过甲基化它们的 DNA 来识别和沉默转座子。植物还进化出了限制抗转座子机制产生的附带损伤的机制。在这篇综述中，我们研究了最近的发展，这些发展阐明了这些途径的许多分子机制。我们还强调了甲基化和去甲基化途径相互作用的证据，表明植物具有高度复杂的、综合的转座子防御系统，在基因表达调控中起着重要作用。
