Ito Hidetaka
Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University.
Genes Genet Syst. 2022 Dec 17;97(4):169-175. doi: 10.1266/ggs.22-00045. Epub 2022 Aug 4.
Transposons were once thought to be junk repetitive DNA in the genome. However, their importance gradually became apparent as it became clear that they regulate gene expression, which is essential for organisms to survive, and that they are important factors in the driving force of evolution. Since there are multiple transposons in the genomes of all organisms, transposons have likely been activated and increased in copy number throughout their long history. This review focuses on environmental stress as a factor in transposon activation, paying particular attention to transposons in plants that are activated by environmental stresses. It is now known that plants respond to environmental stress in various ways, and correspondingly, many transposons respond to stress. The relationship between environmental stress and transposons is reviewed, including the mechanisms of their activation and the effects of transposon activation on host plants.
转座子曾被认为是基因组中无意义的重复DNA。然而，随着人们逐渐清楚地认识到它们调控基因表达（这对生物体生存至关重要）以及它们是进化驱动力中的重要因素，其重要性日益显现。由于所有生物体的基因组中都有多个转座子，在其漫长的历史中，转座子很可能已被激活且拷贝数增加。本综述着重探讨环境胁迫作为转座子激活的一个因素，尤其关注受环境胁迫激活的植物转座子。现在已知植物以多种方式应对环境胁迫，相应地，许多转座子也对胁迫作出反应。本文综述了环境胁迫与转座子之间的关系，包括它们的激活机制以及转座子激活对宿主植物的影响。
