Transposition articles from across Nature Portfolio

Mutations in condensin subunits cause microcephaly, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here, the authors show that unrestricted retrotransposable element activity impairs brain development in condensin insufficient organisms.

Endogenous retroviruses constitute 5–10% of mammalian genome space. This study characterize the bovine ERVK[2-1- LTR] clade showing that its activity varies between individuals as a function of the number of inherited autonomous elements, yet that most de novo insertions are non-autonomous elements lacking functional genes.

Transgenes are inserted into human cells by 2-RNA delivery of a retroelement protein and template.

SAFB proteins protect genome integrity by preventing retrotransposition of L1 elements yet maintaining splicing integrity, via prevention of the exonization of previously integrated transposable elements, a major constituent of human genes.

X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, structural modelling, biochemistry, cell biology, and evolutionary analysis enable characterization of ORF2p, the reverse transcriptase of the ancient ‘parasitic’ LINE-1 retrotransposon that has written around one-third of the human genome.

Transposons and their host genomes are entangled in an evolutionary arms race, recounts Tuğçe Aktaş.

In light of their recent finding that insertion of a rare endogenous retrovirus, β4, is the cause of the characteristic coat coloring in agouti and piebald mice, Akira Tanave and Tsuyoshi Koide now discuss the origin and expansion of this element as well as potential roles of β4 in the mouse genome.