Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Simkin A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3992950 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Simkin Alfred A Wong Alex A Poh Yu-Ping YP Theurkauf William E WE Jensen Jeffrey D JD
Evolution; international journal of organic evolution 20130117 4
Uncontrolled transposable element (TE) insertions and excisions can cause chromosome breaks and mutations with dramatic deleterious effects. The PIWI interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway functions as an adaptive TE silencing system during germline development. Several essential piRNA pathway proteins appear to be rapidly evolving, suggesting that TEs and the silencing machinery may be engaged in a classical "evolutionary arms race." Using a variety of molecular evolutionary and population genetic app ...[more]