Mobile DNA: Finding Treasure in Junk

Mobile DNA: Finding Treasure in Junk is an overview of the field of transposable elements from the perspective of a pioneering scientist, Haig H. Kazazian, Jr. In the book, Haig begins with an introduction to the discovery of mobile elements and different types of transposable elements that exist. This introduction to mobile elements expands to transposons that are found in model organisms and then moves on to mention many of the early “exceptional scientists” in the field of mobile DNA, such as Maxine Singer. The text does a remarkable job of covering many of the early contributors to the study of transposable elements and genome organization. Subsequently, the emergence of computational biology and its application to the study of transposable elements are discussed along with an extensive introduction into retrotransposable elements.After the introduction to the field of mobile DNA and retrotransposable elements, Haig provides an overview of the major discoveries in the transposable-element field from the perspective of his own laboratory. These chapters of the book are a mixture of topics that range from the discovery of a disease-causing retrotransposable element in humans to the most recent research on the remarkable diversity that retrotransposons contribute to the genome. These chapters combine a nice mixture of history of the field of mobile DNA and how the retroelement community has been intertwined with the human and many other genome projects. At the same time, this portion of the text still manages to emphasize much of the pioneering work that has been done on retrotransposons in other organisms, such as the discovery of target primed reverse transcription by Tom Eickbush and colleagues.Another unique aspect of the text is the first-hand account of all of the seminal research that has been conducted by members of the Kazazian laboratory for multiple decades. The chapters of the book are divided up on the basis of the topic area and contributor to discuss various members of the Kazazian laboratory and their scientific accomplishments. Their discoveries include the research that John Moran conducted as a postdoctoral fellow in the Kazazian laboratory to establish a model tissue-culture retrotransposition assay system, one of the most critical advances ever in the field. This single experimental approach served as the beachhead for subsequent studies into the biochemistry of retrotransposon proliferation, understanding the key role that L1 elements play in the movement of all retrotransposons, and unlocking many new mechanisms by which these elements contribute to human genomic diversity and mutation, including exon shuffling. Subsequent analyses by Eric Ostertag, John Goodier, Brook Brouha, Maria del Carmen Seleme, and others helped to define the biology of L1 elements and their replication cycle, cell biology, transduction potential, and population-specific retrotransposition potential. The recent research of Adam Ewing and Dustin Hancks is then discussed with insights into the discovery of a new retrotransposon termed SVA and the incredible amount of mobile-element-associated structural variation that has been generated by retrotransposable elements in humans.The last portion of the book provides insight into the current status of the field of mobile DNA in humans and into future prospects. This portion of the text provides an overview of the expanding roles that mobile elements play in creating multiple forms of somatic and germinal genetic variation. Particular attention is brought to the recent “transposon display” studies showing differential rates of retrotransposon movement in different tissues and the vast insertion-based genetic diversity that these elements have created in different human genomes. Haig concludes the book with insights into the future trajectory for research in the mobile DNA field with the use of the rapidly changing tools of comparative genomics and the prospective insights involving the biology of mobile elements. This text is an exciting introduction and history of the field of mobile DNA from a pioneer in the field.