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Originally published in Science Express on 16 April 2009
Science 15 May 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5929, pp. 935 - 938
DOI: 10.1126/science.1170023
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Reports

A Functional Role for Transposases in a Large Eukaryotic Genome

Mariusz Nowacki,1 Brian P. Higgins,1 Genevieve M. Maquilan,1 Estienne C. Swart,1 Thomas G. Doak,2 Laura F. Landweber1,*

Despite comprising much of the eukaryotic genome, few transposons are active, and they usually confer no benefit to the host. Through an exaggerated process of genome rearrangement, Oxytricha trifallax destroys 95% of its germline genome during development. This includes the elimination of all transposon DNA. We show that germline-limited transposase genes play key roles in this process of genome-wide DNA excision, which suggests that transposases function in large eukaryotic genomes containing thousands of active transposons. We show that transposase gene expression occurs during germline-soma differentiation and that silencing of transposase by RNA interference leads to abnormal DNA rearrangement in the offspring. This study suggests a new important role in Oxytricha for this large portion of genomic DNA that was previously thought of as junk.

1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
2 Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lfl{at}princeton.edu

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