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NASA NTRS · 20040141892

Transposable elements as a molecular evolutionary force

Fedoroff, N. V.
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Abstract

This essay addresses the paradoxes of the complex and highly redundant genomes. The central theses developed are that: (1) the distinctive feature of complex genomes is the existence of epigenetic mechanisms that permit extremely high levels of both tandem and dispersed redundancy; (2) the special contribution of transposable elements is to modularize the genome; and (3) the labilizing forces of recombination and transposition are just barely contained, giving a dynamic genetic system of ever increasing complexity that verges on the chaotic.

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ReviewNon-NASA CenterNASA Discipline Plant BiologyReview, AcademicEvolution, MolecularDNA Transposable ElementsAnimalsEvolutionEukaryotic CellsDNA MethylationHumanRepetitive Sequences, Nucleic AcidGene DuplicationGenomeRecombination, Genetic

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Fedoroff, N. V.. 1999-05-18. Transposable elements as a molecular evolutionary force. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20040141892

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