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The mechanistic and evolutionary diversity of programmed DNA elimination.
Nat Rev Genet.
Beyond somatic mutations, the genetic makeup of an organism is often assumed toremain constant across all cells or nuclei within individuals. However, someorganisms exhibit programmed DNA elimination (PDE), whereby specific celllineages lose DNA segments or whole chromosomes. Building evidence indicates thatPDE occurs in a wide range of eukaryotes and is linked to diverse cellularprocesses including gene silencing, germline differentiation, genome defence andsex determination. Here we compare PDE across broad phylogenetic groups,highlighting the mechanistic diversity, overlooked plasticity in genome integrityand the considerable gaps in our understanding of why PDE emerged recurrently andis maintained across the Tree of Life.
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