Biomaterial Database

Transposable elements as genomic diseases. 2009

Andreas Wagner

University of Zurich, Dept. of Biochemistry, Bldg. Y27, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zurich, Switzerland. aw@bioc.unizh.ch

Human disease agents can get transmitted both horizontally--through infection--and vertically--from parent to offspring. Depending on details of their evolutionary dynamics, they may increase or decrease in virulence over time. The evolutionary dynamics of bacterial transposable elements resembles that of human pathogens in these and other respects. I here briefly highlight similarities and differences in the two evolutionary processes. I also suggest that an epidemiological perspective, combined with future estimates of parameters of transposable element evolution from hundreds of genomes, may yield insights into the forces that maintain transposable elements in bacterial populations.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D004194	Disease	A definite pathologic process with a characteristic set of signs and symptoms. It may affect the whole body or any of its parts, and its etiology, pathology, and prognosis may be known or unknown.	Diseases
D004251	DNA Transposable Elements	Discrete segments of DNA which can excise and reintegrate to another site in the genome. Most are inactive, i.e., have not been found to exist outside the integrated state. DNA transposable elements include bacterial IS (insertion sequence) elements, Tn elements, the maize controlling elements Ac and Ds, Drosophila P, gypsy, and pogo elements, the human Tigger elements and the Tc and mariner elements which are found throughout the animal kingdom.	DNA Insertion Elements,DNA Transposons,IS Elements,Insertion Sequence Elements,Tn Elements,Transposable Elements,Elements, Insertion Sequence,Sequence Elements, Insertion,DNA Insertion Element,DNA Transposable Element,DNA Transposon,Element, DNA Insertion,Element, DNA Transposable,Element, IS,Element, Insertion Sequence,Element, Tn,Element, Transposable,Elements, DNA Insertion,Elements, DNA Transposable,Elements, IS,Elements, Tn,Elements, Transposable,IS Element,Insertion Element, DNA,Insertion Elements, DNA,Insertion Sequence Element,Sequence Element, Insertion,Tn Element,Transposable Element,Transposable Element, DNA,Transposable Elements, DNA,Transposon, DNA,Transposons, DNA
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D012336	RNA, Ribosomal, 16S	Constituent of 30S subunit prokaryotic ribosomes containing 1600 nucleotides and 21 proteins. 16S rRNA is involved in initiation of polypeptide synthesis.	16S Ribosomal RNA,16S rRNA,RNA, 16S Ribosomal,Ribosomal RNA, 16S,rRNA, 16S
D013997	Time Factors	Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.	Time Series,Factor, Time,Time Factor
D016678	Genome	The genetic complement of an organism, including all of its GENES, as represented in its DNA, or in some cases, its RNA.	Genomes