%0 Journal Article
%T Transposable elements in cancer as a by-product of stress-induced evolvability
%A Tobias Mourier
%J Frontiers in Genetics
%D 2014
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fgene.2014.00156
%X Transposable elements (TEs) are ubiquitous in eukaryotic genomes. Barbara McClintock¡¯s famous notion of TEs acting as controlling elements modifying the genetic response of an organism upon exposure to stressful environments has since been solidly supported in a series of model organisms. This requires the TE activity response to possess an element of specificity and be targeted toward certain parts of the genome. We propose that a similar TE response is present in human cells, and that this stress response may drive the onset of human cancers. As such, TE-driven cancers may be viewed as an evolutionary by-product of organisms¡¯ abilities to genetically adapt to environmental stress.
%K transposable elements
%K stress response
%K evolution
%K evolvability
%K cancer
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fgene.2014.00156/abstract