Programmed DNA elimination
Résumé
In most multicellular organisms, cells within an individual have essentially identical genomes [...]. However, an exception to this one-body–one-genome principle exists in our blood cells. In developing lymphocytes in vertebrates, a process termed V(D)J recombination shuffles the antigen-binding regions of immunoglobulins and T-cell receptors. While V(D)J recombination is limited to immune receptor genes in lymphocyte lineages, more profound programmed genome rearrangement processes occur in many organisms [...]. Programmed genome rearrangement is an irreversible process involving the removal and degradation of some DNA [...]. Therefore, programmed genome rearrangement can also be referred to as programmed DNA elimination (PDE). A process is often labeled as programmed genome rearrangement when the remaining rearranged product is of interest, as in the case of V(D)J recombination, but it is called PDE when the removal of DNA is biologically relevant, such as transposable element elimination in ciliates [...].