Human Molecular Genetics Advance Access originally published online on May 4, 2007
Human Molecular Genetics 2007 16(13):1587-1592; doi:10.1093/hmg/ddm108
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L1 retrotransposition can occur early in human embryonic development
1 Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2 Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, 13125 Berlin, Germany, 3 Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, PA 19104-6145, USA, 4 Department of Neuromedical Genetics, The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 5 Department of Clinical Genetics, 6 Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Centre, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 7 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Centre, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands and 8 Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands
* To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Human Genetics 855, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 243613750; Fax: +31 243668752; Email: f.cremers{at}antrg.umcn.nl
Received April 13, 2007; Accepted April 19, 2007
L1 elements are autonomous retrotransposons that can cause hereditary diseases. We have previously identified a full-length L1 insertion in the CHM (choroideremia) gene of a patient with choroideremia, an X-linked progressive eye disease. Because this L1 element, designated L1CHM, contains two 3'-transductions, we were able to delineate a retrotransposition path in which a precursor L1 on chromosome 10p15 or 18p11 retrotransposed to chromosome 6p21 and subsequently to the CHM gene on chromosome Xq21. A cell culture retrotransposition assay showed that L1CHM is one of the most active L1 elements in the human genome. Most importantly, analysis of genomic DNA from the CHM patient's relatives indicated somatic and germ-line mosaicism for the L1 insertion in his mother. These findings provide evidence that L1 retrotransposition can occur very early in human embryonic development.
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