This review highlights the role of mobile elements, such as retrotransposons, in causing disease in mammalian genomes, particularly in mice.
A substantial fraction of mammalian genomes is composed of mobile elements and their remnants. Recent insertions of LTR-retrotransposons, non-LTR retrotransposons, and non-autonomous retrotransposons have caused disease frequently in mice, but infrequently in humans. Although many of these elements are defective, a number of mammalian non-LTR retrotransposons of the L1 type are capable of autonomous retrotransposition. The mechanism by which they retrotranspose and in turn aide the retrotransposition of non-autonomous elements is being elucidated.
Haig H. Kazazian (Mon,) studied this question.
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