Comparative transcriptomics reveals an extracellular worm argonaute as an ancestral regulator of LTR retrotransposons.
Isaac Martínez-Ugalde, Kyriaki Neophytou, Yenetzi Villagrana-Pacheco, Adriana Orrego Durañona, Lewis Stevens, Xiaochen Du, Rowan E. Bancroft, Jessica L. Hall, Amy B. Pedersen, Mark Blaxter, Amy H. Buck, Cei Abreu‐Goodger
The paper identifies exWAGO as an ancestral regulator of LTR retrotransposons, showing it binds sRNAs from TEs and non-autonomous LTRs in extracellular forms.
Genome Biology and Evolution · May 1, 2026Peer-reviewedGenomics