Expression of retroelements in mammalian gametes and embryos

Abstract

Retroelements are genetic mobile elements, expressed during male and female gamete differentiation. Retrotransposons are normally regulated by the methylation machinery, chromatin modifications, non-coding RNAs, and transcription factors, while retrotransposition control is of vital importance in cellular proliferation and differentiation process. Retrotransposition requires a transcription step, by a cellular RNA polymerase, followed by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate to cDNA and its integration into a new genomic locus. Long interspersed elements (LINEs), human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), short interspersed elements (SINEs) and SINE-VNTR-Alu elements (SVAs) constitute about half of the human genome, play a crucial role in genome organization, structure and function and interfere with several biological procedures. In this mini review, we discuss recent data regarding retroelement expression (LINE-1, HERVK-10, SVA and VL30) and retrotransposition events in mammalian oocytes and spermatozoa, as well as the importance of their impact on human and mouse preimplantation embryo development.