DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are harmful lesions leading to genomic instability or
diversity. Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is a prominent DSB repair pathway, which …

Abstract The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-
associated proteins (Cas) systems of bacterial and archaeal adaptive immunity show …

Coding for proteins has been considered the main function of RNA since the “central
dogma” of biology was proposed. The discovery of noncoding transcripts shed light on …

In the ciliate Paramecium, transposable elements and their single-copy remnants are
deleted during the development of somatic macronuclei from germline micronuclei, at each …

Ciliates belong to a monophyletic group of unicellular eukaryotes within the Alveolate
branch (1). The species that have been used as model organisms are free‐living organisms …

Ciliated protozoans perform extreme forms of programmed somatic DNA rearrangement
during development. The model ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila removes 34% of its …

Small RNAs mediate the silencing of transposable elements and other genomic loci,
increasing nucleosome density and preventing undesirable gene expression. The …

The CRISPR-Cas systems of bacterial and archaeal adaptive immunity have become a
household name among biologists and even the general public thanks to the …

During somatic differentiation, physiological DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) can drive
programmed genome rearrangements (PGR), during which DSB repair pathways are …

Gene duplication and diversification drive the emergence of novel functions during
evolution. Because of whole genome duplications, ciliates from the Paramecium aurelia …