ArticleCell2016
Discovery of an Active RAG Transposon Illuminates the Origins of V(D)J Recombination.
Article in Cell, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 206 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multiple evolutionary routes to immune diversification across animals.International immunology · 2026Review
- Discontinuous genomic coding and paradigm shifts in molecular biology and immunology: revolutions via "normal science".Natural sciences (Weinheim, Germany) · 2026Article
- Insights into cephalochordate genome and gene evolution from the early-diverging amphioxusProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Proximity-based proteomic profiling uncovers distinct interactome of human RAG1 and RAG2.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2026Article
- Immunity: defense against infections essential for all living organisms.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- One Biology and the Status of Humans.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Origin of immunoglobulins and T cell receptors: A candidate gene for invasion by the RAG transposon.Science advances · 2025Article
- Current insights into insect immune memory.eLife · 2025Review
- Functions and mechanisms of eukaryotic RNA-guided programmed DNA elimination.Biochemical Society transactions · 2025Review
- Understanding vertebrate immunity through comparative immunology.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2025Review
- MCHelper automatically curates transposable element libraries across eukaryotic species.Genome research · 2024Article
- The Janus (dual) model of immunoglobulin isotype evolution: Conservation and plasticity are the defining paradigms.Immunological reviews · 2024Review
- The making of a nucleic acid sensor at the dawn of jawed vertebrate evolution.Science advances · 2024Article
- LINE-1 retrotransposition and its deregulation in cancers: implications for therapeutic opportunities.Genes & development · 2023Review
- Programmed chromosome fragmentation in ciliated protozoa: multiple means to chromosome ends.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2023Review
- Insights into RAG Evolution from the Identification of "Missing Link" Family A RAGL Transposons.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- An Ancient MHC-Linked Gene Encodes a Nonrearranging Shark Antibody, UrIg, Convergent with IgG.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2023Article
- Origin of the OAS-RNase L innate immune pathway before the rise of jawed vertebrates via molecular tinkering.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
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47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Co-option of RAG1 and RAG2 for antigen receptor gene assembly by V(D)J recombination was a crucial event in the evolution of jawed vertebrate adaptive immunity. RAG1/2 are proposed to have arisen from a transposable element, but definitive evidence for this is lacking. Here, we report the discovery of ProtoRAG, a DNA transposon family from lancelets, the most basal extant chordates. A typical ProtoRAG is flanked by 5-bp target site duplications and a pair of terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) resembling V(D)J recombination signal sequences. Between the TIRs reside tail-to-tail-oriented, intron-containing RAG1-like and RAG2-like genes. We demonstrate that ProtoRAG was recently active in the lancelet germline and that the lancelet RAG1/2-like proteins can mediate TIR-dependent transposon excision, host DNA recombination, transposition, and low-efficiency TIR rejoining using reaction mechanisms similar to those used by vertebrate RAGs. We propose that ProtoRAG represents a molecular "living fossil" of the long-sought RAG transposon.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.