TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dechaud, Corentin
A1  - Volff, Jean-Nicolas
A1  - Schartl, Manfred
A1  - Naville, Magali
T1  - Sex and the TEs: transposable elements in sexual development and function in animals
JF  - Mobile DNA
N2  - Transposable elements are endogenous DNA sequences able to integrate into and multiply within genomes. They constitute a major source of genetic innovations, as they can not only rearrange genomes but also spread ready-to-use regulatory sequences able to modify host gene expression, and even can give birth to new host genes. As their evolutionary success depends on their vertical transmission, transposable elements are intrinsically linked to reproduction. In organisms with sexual reproduction, this implies that transposable elements have to manifest their transpositional activity in germ cells or their progenitors. The control of sexual development and function can be very versatile, and several studies have demonstrated the implication of transposable elements in the evolution of sex. In this review, we report the functional and evolutionary relationships between transposable elements and sexual reproduction in animals. In particular, we highlight how transposable elements can influence expression of sexual development genes, and how, reciprocally, they are tightly controlled in gonads. We also review how transposable elements contribute to the organization, expression and evolution of sexual development genes and sex chromosomes. This underscores the intricate co-evolution between host functions and transposable elements, which regularly shift from a parasitic to a domesticated status useful to the host.
KW  - Transposable element
KW  - Sex determination
KW  - Sexual development and function
KW  - Germline
KW  - piRNA
KW  - Sex chromosome
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-202510
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Helmprobst, Frederik
A1  - Kneitz, Susanne
A1  - Klotz, Barbara
A1  - Naville, Magali
A1  - Dechaud, Corentin
A1  - Volff, Jean-Nicolas
A1  - Schartl, Manfred
T1  - Differential expression of transposable elements in the medaka melanoma model
JF  - PLoS One
N2  - Malignant melanoma incidence is rising worldwide. Its treatment in an advanced state is difficult, and the prognosis of this severe disease is still very poor. One major source of these difficulties is the high rate of metastasis and increased genomic instability leading to a high mutation rate and the development of resistance against therapeutic approaches. Here we investigate as one source of genomic instability the contribution of activation of transposable elements (TEs) within the tumor. We used the well-established medaka melanoma model and RNA-sequencing to investigate the differential expression of TEs in wildtype and transgenic fish carrying melanoma. We constructed a medaka-specific TE sequence library and identified TE sequences that were specifically upregulated in tumors. Validation by qRT- PCR confirmed a specific upregulation of a LINE and an LTR element in malignant melanomas of transgenic fish.
KW  - melanoma
KW  - genomics
KW  - transposable elements
KW  - cancer genomics
KW  - malignant tumors
KW  - gene prediction
KW  - human genomics
KW  - retrotransposons
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260615
VL  - 16
IS  - 10
ER  -