A historical and evolutionary perspective on the biological significance of circulating DNA and extracellular vesicles
Date
2016Author
Aucamp, Janine
Bronkhorst, Abel J.
Badenhorst, Christoffel P.S.
Pretorius, Piet J.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The discovery of quantitative and qualitative
differences of the circulating DNA (cirDNA) between
healthy and diseased individuals inclined researchers to
investigate these molecules as potential biomarkers for
non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of various pathologies.
However, except for some prenatal tests, cirDNA
analyses have not been readily translated to clinical practice
due to a lack of knowledge regarding its composition,
function, and biological and evolutionary origins. We
believe that, to fully grasp the nature of cirDNA and the
extracellular vesicles (EVs) and protein complexes with
which it is associated, it is necessary to probe the early and
badly neglected work that contributed to the discovery and
development of these concepts. Accordingly, this review
consists of a schematic summary of the major events that
developed and integrated the concepts of heredity, genetic
information, cirDNA, EVs, and protein complexes. Cir-
DNA enters target cells and provokes a myriad of gene
regulatory effects associated with the messaging functions
of various natures, disease progression, somatic genome
variation, and transgenerational inheritance. This challenges
the traditional views on each of the former topics.
All of these discoveries can be traced directly back to the
iconic works of Darwin, Lamarck, and their followers. The
history of cirDNA that has been revisited here is rich in
information that should be considered in clinical practice,
when designing new experiments, and should be very
useful for generating an empirically up-to-date view of
cirDNA and EVs. Furthermore, we hope that it will invite
many flights of speculation and stimulate further inquiry
into its biological and evolutionary origins
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/19085https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00018-016-2370-3
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-016-2370-3