Projects per year
Abstract
To date, most reports of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in fungi rely on genome sequence data and are therefore an indirect measure of HGT after the event has occurred. However, a novel group of class II‐like transposons known as Starships may soon alter this status quo. Starships are giant transposable elements that carry dozens of genes, some of which are host‐beneficial, and are linked to many recent HGT events in the fungal kingdom. These transposons remain active and mobile in many fungal genomes and their transposition has recently been shown to be driven by a conserved tyrosine‐recombinase called ‘Captain’. This perspective explores some of the remaining unanswered questions about how these Starship transposons move, both within a genome and between different species. We seek to outline several experimental approaches that can be used to identify the genes essential for Starship‐mediated HGT and draw links to other recently discovered giant transposons outside of the fungal kingdom.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Molecular Microbiology |
Early online date | 11 Jul 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 11 Jul 2023 |
Keywords
- horizontal gene transfer
- tyrosine recombinase
- transposon
- Starship
- fungi
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Dive into the research topics of 'That's no moon, it's a Starship: Giant transposons driving fungal horizontal gene transfer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Identifying novel fungicide targets in the wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici via CRISPR gene-editing
McDonald, M. (Principal Investigator)
31/01/22 → 31/05/23
Project: Research Councils