On the concept of retrotransposons: controlling genome and making stress memories

Abstract

Retrotransposons constitute discrete genetic entities that have attained a large fraction of mammalian genomes during evolution. Their inhabitance as well as their functional impact on host genome has definitively revised the initial viewpoint of "junk DNA". Nowadays, it is widely accepted that retrotransposons may control genome through a variety of mechanisms, affecting different cellular processes. Here, I survey their impact on genome architecture and function with an emphasis on their interwoven relationship with stress.