Research Interest

My group focuses on the study of how transposable elements interact with the eukaryote genome and how these interactions can actively contribute to evolution. To study this we use the telomeres of Drosophila as a model.

Although the telomeres of Drosophila are functionally equivalent to telomerase telomeres, they are maintained by an alternative mechanism. Instead of telomerase, Drosophila uses three non-LTR retrotransposons, HeT-A, TART and TAHRE to elongate the end of the chromosomes when need it. These very special retrotransposons maintain their personality as transposons but at the same time are committed to maintain the telomeres in Drosophila. Telomere maintenance is crucial for processes as important as aging, tumorogenesis and genome stability.

In my group we are studying different aspects of telomere elongation in Drosophila and the consequences for telomere and retrotransposons evolution.

See more detailed information in current lines of research at the Research section.

Selected publications

-E.Casacuberta, M-L Pardue. Transposon telomeres are widely distributed in the Drosophila genus: TART elements in the virilis group. (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 100, 3363-8.

-E.Casacuberta, M-L Pardue. HeT-A elements in D. virilis: Retrotransposon telomeres are conserved across the Drosophila genus. (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100, 14091-96.

-E.Casacuberta, M-L Pardue. HeT-A and TART, two Drosophila retrotransposons with a bona fide role in chromosome structure for more than 60 million years. (2005) Cytogenetics and Genome research 110.

-E.Casacuberta, M-L. Pardue. RNA interference has a role in regulating Drosophila telomeres.(2006) Genome Biol. 7, 220.

-E.Casacuberta, F. Azorín, M-L. Pardue. Intracellular targeting of telomeric retrotransposon Gag proteins of distantly related Drosophila species. (2007) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104, 8391-96.