Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Embryo Microinjection for Transgenesis in Drosophila
Published on: June 7, 2024
Interactions between transposable elements and Argonautes have (probably) been shaping the Drosophila genome
Haruhiko Siomi1, Mikiko C Siomi
1Institute for Genome Research, The University of Tokushima, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. siomi@genome.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
Transposable elements (TEs) are powerful mutagenic agents responsible for generating variation in the host genome. As TEs can be overtly deleterious, a variety of different mechanisms have evolved to keep their activities in check. In plants, fungi, and animals, RNA silencing has been implicated as a major defense against repetitive element transposition. This nucleic acid-based defense mechanism also appears to be directed at inherited silencing of TEs without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Complex interactions between TEs and RNA silencing machineries have been co-opted to regulate cellular genes.
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