Nuclear function of Alus

Abstract

Alus are transposable elements belonging to the short interspersed element family. They occupy over 10% of human genome and have been spreading through genomes over the past 65 million years. In the past, they were considered junk DNA with little function that took up genome volumes. Today, Alus and other transposable elements emerge to be key players in cellular function, including genomic activities, gene expression regulations, and evolution. Here we summarize the current understanding of Alu function in genome and gene expression regulation in human cell nuclei.

Keywords: :

• alus
• transposable elements
• gene expression regulation
• genome function
• evolution

10.4161/nucl.28005

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest was disclosed.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the critical read of Dr Barry Feldman, and the work is supported by grants from NIH (2R01GM078555–05).