PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - EIRINI MASTORA
AU  - ANTONIA CHRISTODOULAKI
AU  - KYRIAKI PAPAGEORGIOU
AU  - ATHANASIOS ZIKOPOULOS
AU  - IOANNIS GEORGIOU
TI  - Expression of Retroelements in Mammalian Gametes and Embryos
AID  - 10.21873/invivo.12458
DP  - 2021 Jul 01
TA  - In Vivo
PG  - 1921--1927
VI  - 35
IP  - 4
4099  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/35/4/1921.short
4100  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/35/4/1921.full
SO  - In Vivo2021 Jul 01; 35
AB  - 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.