Positive selection and multiple losses of the LINE-1-derived L1TD1 gene in mammals suggest a dual role in genome defense and pluripotency.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian genomes comprise many active and fossilized retroelements. The obligate requirement for retroelement integration affords host genomes an opportunity to 'domesticate' retroelement genes for their own purpose, leading to important innovations in genome defense and placentation. While many such exaptations involve retroviruses, the L1TD1 gene is the only known domesticated gene whose protein-coding sequence is almost entirely derived from a LINE-1 (L1) retroelement. Human L1TD1 has been shown to play an important role in pluripotency maintenance. To investigate how this role was acquired, we traced the origin and evolution of L1TD1. We find that L1TD1 originated in the common ancestor of eutherian mammals, but was lost or pseudogenized multiple times during mammalian evolution. We a

SUBMITTER: McLaughlin RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4161310 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature