Biological changes of transposable elements by radiation: recent progress

Mobile genetic elements within genomes have been known to drive genome evolution in diverse ways. Since developing high-technology for whole-genome sequencing, many researchers have focused on not only how mobile genetic elements have affected the evolution of genes and their function, particularly of human and mammals, but also how these elements involve in gene activation or inactivation associated with a number of human diseases. Here we describe what kind of biological changes by mobile genetic elements contribute to disease, especially cancer and present an overview of what is known about this large, and largely unexplored, segment of the genome. Finally, we discuss understanding the genomic changes or cellular responses to genotoxic stress such as radiation may permit to implicate for potential clinical application.