Impact of transposable elements on the human genome

Presence of transposable elements (TEs) in the human genome has profound ef fects on genome function, structure and evolution. TE mobility and inter-TE recombination are the origin of a large spectrum of mutations and genome r eorganization leading to diseases. From the data provided by the Human Geno me Project and from information on the detection and dynamics of TEs within and between species acquired during the last two decades, we now know that these elements are not only involved in mutagenesis but can also participa te in many cellular functions including recombination, gene regulation, pro tein-coding RNA messages and, possibly, cellular stress response and centro mere function. TEs also promote a general genome shuffling process that has been important for the evolution of several gene families and for the deve lopment of new regulatory pathways.