Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Jangam D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5659911 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Jangam Diwash D Feschotte Cédric C Betrán Esther E
Trends in genetics : TIG 20170824 11
Transposable elements (TEs) are selfish genetic units that typically encode proteins that enable their proliferation in the genome and spread across individual hosts. Here we review a growing number of studies that suggest that TE proteins have often been co-opted or 'domesticated' by their host as adaptations to a variety of evolutionary conflicts. In particular, TE-derived proteins have been recurrently repurposed as part of defense systems that protect prokaryotes and eukaryotes against the p ...[more]