A three-tiered strategy to prevent destabilisation of the induced pluripotent stem cell genome by L1 retrotransposition

反转录转座子是一种移动基因，它在我们的基因组中复制粘贴自己。以前人们认为逆转录转座子代表“垃圾DNA”，现在人们越来越认识到逆转录转座子在生物学中发挥着重要作用。在最近发表在《细胞》和《自然》杂志上的文章中，我们发现逆转录转座子在成熟的人类细胞中移动。在目前的研究中，我们将确定当这些细胞被重新编程为干细胞时是否会发生相同的活性，这可能会影响基于干细胞的治疗。

Retrotransposons are mobile genes that copy-and-paste themselves in our genome. Previously thought to represent “junk DNA”, retrotransposons are increasingly recognised to play major roles in biology. In recent publications in Cell and Nature, we found that retrotransposons move in mature human cells. In the current study, we will determine whether the same activity occurs when these cells are reprogrammed to become stem cells, possibly impacting stem cell based therapies.