Nature Communications (Mar 2016)
A Helitron transposon reconstructed from bats reveals a novel mechanism of genome shuffling in eukaryotes
Abstract
Helitron elements are proposed rolling-circle transposons in eukaryotic genomes, but experimental evidence for their transposition has been lacking. Here, Grabundzija et al. reconstruct an active Helitron from bats which they name Helraiser, and characterize its mechanism of transposition in cell-free reactions and in human cell cultures in vitro.