This Article Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: MCB.01888-06v1 27/4/1264    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shi, X. Articles by Gorbunova, V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shi, X. Articles by Gorbunova, V.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Mol. Cell. Biol. doi:10.1128/MCB.01888-06
Copyright (c) 2006, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Cell divisions are required for L1 retrotransposition

Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627-0211

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: vgorbuno{at}mail.rochester.edu.

	Abstract

LINE-1 (L1) retrotransposons comprise a large fraction of genomic DNA of many organisms. Many L1 elements are active and may generate potentially deleterious mutations by inserting into genes, yet little is known about the control of retrotransposition by the host. Here we examined whether retrotransposition depends on the cell cycle using retrotransposition assay in cultured human cells. We show that in both cancer cells and in primary human fibroblasts retrotransposition was strongly inhibited in the cells arrested in G1, S, G2, or M stages of the cell cycle. Retrotransposition was also inhibited during cellular senescence in primary human fibroblasts. The levels of L1 transcripts were strongly reduced in arrested cells suggesting that the reduction in L1 transcript abundance limits retrotransposition in nondividing cells. We hypothesize that inhibition of retrotransposition in nondividing cells protects somatic tissues from accumulation of deleterious mutations caused by L1 elements.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Belancio, V. P., Hedges, D. J., Deininger, P. (2008). Mammalian non-LTR retrotransposons: For better or worse, in sickness and in health. Genome Res 18: 343-358 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Garcia-Perez, J. L., Marchetto, M. C.N., Muotri, A. R., Coufal, N. G., Gage, F. H., O'Shea, K. S., Moran, J. V. (2007). LINE-1 retrotransposition in human embryonic stem cells. Hum Mol Genet 16: 1569-1577 [Abstract] [Full Text]