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Surveillance of Retroelement Expression and Nucleic‐Acid Immunity by Histone Methyltransferase SETDB1
Author(s) -
Kang YongKook
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201800058
Subject(s) - biology , histone , genome , nucleic acid , retrotransposon , cytoplasm , rna , reverse transcriptase , genetics , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , transposable element
In human cancers, histone methyltransferase SETDB1 (SET domain, bifurcated 1) is frequently overexpressed but its significance in carcinogenesis remains elusive. A recent study shows that SETDB1 downregulation induces de‐repression of retroelements and innate immunity in cancer cells. The possibility of SETDB1 functioning as a surveillant of retroelement expression is discussed in this study: the cytoplasmic presence of retroelement‐derived nucleic acids (RdNAs) drives SETDB1 into the nucleus by the RNA‐interference route, rendering the corresponding retroelement transcriptionally inert. These RdNAs could, therefore, be signals of genome instability sent out for SETDB1 present in the cytoplasm to maintain genome integrity.