Mobile genetic elements – mechanism and consequences of transposition

Wędrowski Mateusz, Waśniowski Paweł, Wędrowska Ewelina, Golińska Joanna, Piskorska Elżbieta, Zukow Walery. Mobile genetic elements – mechanism and consequences of transposition. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(12):412-428. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1161264

http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/5223

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© The Authors 2017;

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This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial

use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Received: 01.12.2017. Revised: 15.12.2017. Accepted: 31.12.2017.

Mobile genetic elements – mechanism and consequences of transposition

Mateusz Wędrowski^1,2, Paweł Waśniowski², Ewelina Wędrowska³, Joanna Golińska³, Elżbieta Piskorska⁴, Walery Zukow⁵,

¹Department of Positron Emission Tomography and Molecular Diagnostics, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland

²Nuclear Medicine Department, Oncology Centre, Bydgoszcz, Poland

³Department of Gene Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland

⁴Department of Pathobiochemistry and Clinical Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland

⁵ Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

Corresponding author:

Ewelina Wędrowska

Zakład Genoterapii Collegium Medicum UMK

85-094 Bydgoszcz, ul. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 9

tel. +48 517-545-893

e-mail: ewelina.wedrowska@gmail.com

Abstract

Retrotransposons represent a significant part of the genome in eukaryote organisms. With DNA transposons, they belong to mobile genetic elements. There are two classes of transposons, DNA transposons and retrotransposons. Retrotransposons have three genes in their structure (gag, pol, env), responsible for the activation and encoding of structural proteins and envelope proteins. There is a group of retroelements without LTR (non-LTR). This group consists LINE (Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements) and SINE (Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements) sequences. LINE sequences represent 20% of human genetic material. Sequences of retrotransposons can move within the genome of a particular organism, occasionally subjected to replication as a result of enzyme activity, i.e. reverse transcriptase. The process of retro transposition is imperfect. These processes often cause mutation (most often: insertion, deletion), genetic instability, they contribute to the development of diseases on the genetic basis, including cancer. Retrotransposons are also used to analyze genetic variation as genetic markers.

Key words: retrotransposons, retro transposition, transposons, mobile genetic elements