Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Pardue ML
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3251079 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Pardue Mary-Lou ML DeBaryshe P G PG
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20110805 51
Reverse transcriptases have shaped genomes in many ways. A remarkable example of this shaping is found on telomeres of the genus Drosophila, where retrotransposons have a vital role in chromosome structure. Drosophila lacks telomerase; instead, three telomere-specific retrotransposons maintain chromosome ends. Repeated transpositions to chromosome ends produce long head to tail arrays of these elements. In both form and function, these arrays are analogous to the arrays of repeats added by telom ...[more]