Intron Dynamics
Clément Mettling / Georges Lutfalla
Introns are a hallmark of metazoan genes, but their role in the evolution of genomes is still of debate: Selfish? Exon shuffling? Their conservation in most species proves their extreme stability. The existence of independent and distant species not obeying this rule proves that introns can move and suggests that metazoans with introns possess an active mechanism to prevent this dynamics.
According to Walter Gilbert's theory, introns are lost by homologous recombination with reverse transcribed cDNAs. To further assess this hypothesis, we study genome dynamics in a mouse model that accumulates reverse-transcription products and promotes homologous recombination.
According to Walter Gilbert's theory, introns are lost by homologous recombination with reverse transcribed cDNAs. To further assess this hypothesis, we study genome dynamics in a mouse model that accumulates reverse-transcription products and promotes homologous recombination.
Research axes
Axis 1 : Intron dynamics
Introns are a hallmark of metazoan genes, but their role in the evolution of genomes is still of debate: Selfish? exon shuffling? Their conservation in most species proves their extreme stability. The existence of independent and distant species not obeying this rule proves that introns can move and suggests that metazoans with introns possess an active mechanism to prevent this dynamics.
According to Walter Gilbert's theory, introns are lost by homologous recombination with reverse transcribed cDNAs. To further assess this hypothesis, we study genome dynamics in a mouse model that accumulates reverse-transcription products and promotes homologous recombination.
According to Walter Gilbert's theory, introns are lost by homologous recombination with reverse transcribed cDNAs. To further assess this hypothesis, we study genome dynamics in a mouse model that accumulates reverse-transcription products and promotes homologous recombination.
Team members involved in the project
Collaborations
Selected publications
Alumni
Theme leaders

Georges LUTFALLA
Research Director (DR1) CNRS
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Clément METTLING
Research Associate (CR) CNRS
clement.mettling[at]igh.cnrs.fr