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PubMed · 10415488

Transposable elements as a molecular evolutionary force.

N V Fedoroff
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Abstract

This essay addresses the paradoxes of the complex and highly redundant genomes. The central theses developed are that: (1) the distinctive feature of complex genomes is the existence of epigenetic mechanisms that permit extremely high levels of both tandem and dispersed redundancy; (2) the special contribution of transposable elements is to modularize the genome; and (3) the labilizing forces of recombination and transposition are just barely contained, giving a dynamic genetic system of ever increasing complexity that verges on the chaotic.

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AnimalsBiological EvolutionDNA MethylationDNA Transposable ElementsEukaryotic CellsEvolution, MolecularGene DuplicationGenomeHumansRecombination, GeneticRepetitive Sequences, Nucleic AcidNASA Discipline Plant BiologyNon-NASA CenterJournal ArticleReview

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BibTeXRIS

N V Fedoroff. 1999-05-18. Transposable elements as a molecular evolutionary force.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08886.x

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