The Rationale of the Inevitable, or Why Is the Consideration of Repetitive DNA Elements Indispensable in Studies of Sperm Nucleosomes

Abstract

A substantial part of mammalian genome (66%–69%) is occupied by repetitive DNA elements (RDEs), which possess a huge variety in terms of structure and origin and provide a wide range of functional elements to eukaryotic genomes (de Koning et al., 2011). The physiological relevance, molecular regulation, and the composition of repetitive and heterochromatic parts in mammalian genome are still largely unknown. RDEs can produce in next generation sequencing (NGS) experiments ambiguous reads aligning to multiple locations and are usually eliminated from consideration.