Retrotransposons and the evolution of mammalian gene expression

Transposable elements, and retroviral-like elements in particular, are a rich potential source of genetic variation within a host's genome. Many mutations of endogenous genes in phylogenetically diverse organisms are due to insertion of elements that affect gene expression by altering the normal pattern of regulation. While few such associations are known to have been maintained over time, two recently elucidated examples suggest transposable elements may have a significant impact in evolution of gene expression. The first example, concerning the mouse sex-limited protein ( Slp ), clearly establishes that ancient retroviral enhancer sequences now confer hormonal dependence on the adjacent gene. The second example shows that within the human amylase gene family, salivary specific expression has arisen due to inserted sequences, deriving perhaps from a conjunction of two retrotransposable elements.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42800/1/10709_2004_Article_BF00133720.pd

Colonia e postcolonia come spazi diasporici. Attraversamenti di memorie, confini e identità nel Corno d'Africa

Colony and postcolony are analysed as symbolic, identity, cultural spaces in constant motion: like memories and memberships, even colonial boundaries are not always rigid and immovable, but crossed, in fact, by resources and people that make them flexible, porous, non-negotiable. The volume presents a series of crosscutting reading on multiple memberships in the Horn of Africa region and multiple penetrations that result, today as yesterday, by diasporic and transnational movements at their margins