Minireview
Great exaptations
Author affiliations
1 Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
2 High Throughput Biology Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Citation and License
Journal of Biology 2008, 7:5 doi:10.1186/jbiol66
Published: 15 February 2008Abstract
Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) are among the most successful parasitic genetic sequences in higher organisms. Recent work has discovered many instances of LINE incorporation into exons, reminding us of the hazards they pose to genes in their vicinity as well as their potential to be co-opted for the host's purposes.
