The ‘jumping genes’ is a common name for transposable elements (TEs) due its ability to transpose from one position to another within the genome. TEs contain the same bases (A, T, C, and G) as genomic DNA and thus it has the ability to encode protein and also the regulatory regions required for its replication and transposition. This means that TEs flanking the host’s gene can influence its expression and it was discovered that different TEs are over expressed in various cancer tissues. Experiments was done to test whether adjacent TEs can affect gene expression in normal and cancer tissues and they coupled all human genes to its closest TEs. This is possible due to the fact that most of the mammalian genomes are rich in TEs (38.5% of the mouse genome and 45% of the human genome). Results showed that the type of TEs located near the gene does count for differential gene expression between normal and tumor tissues and this difference is greatest for genes flanked by short interspersed nuclear element (SINEs). Increase in SINE copies neighboring the gene increases deregulation of gene expression which can be linked to cancer. However, SINEs might not be the primary cause of tumor and further experiments should be carried out to refine this finding for better understanding especially in cancer research.
Resources:
Primary
http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v85/n2/full/6887510a.html
Secondary
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T39-4NF4F3Y-1&_user=331728&_coverDate=07%2F15%2F2007&_alid=629512711&_rdoc=1&_fmt=full&_orig=search&_cdi=4941&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000016898&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=331728&md5=1ddaf7f49e63b953c6d4f1bfb69b0ffc
written by : 41098297 (BIOL2007)
