Cell-surface area codes: mobile-element related gene switches generate precise and heritable cell-surface displays of address molecules that are used for constructing embryos.

We present an updated area code hypothesis supporting the proposal that cell surface display of seven-transmembrane olfactory receptors, protocadherins and other cell surface receptors provide codes that enable cells to find their correct partners as they sculpture embryos. The genetic mechanisms that program the expression of such displays have been largely unknown until very recently. However, increasing evidence now suggests that precise developmental control of the expression of these genes during embryogenesis is achieved in part by permanent and heritable changes in DNA. Using the developing immune system as a model, we discuss two different types of developmentally programmed genetic switches, each of which relies on recombination mechanisms related to mobile elements. We review new evidence suggesting the involvement of mobile element related switch mechanisms in the generation of protocadherin molecules, and their possible involvement in the control of expressions of olfactory receptors. As both recombinase and reverse transcriptase mechanisms play a role in the switching of the immunoglobulin genes, we searched the databases of expressed sequence tags (dbEST) for expression of related genes in other tissues. We present data revealing that transposases and reverse transcriptases are widely expressed in most tissues. We also searched these databases for expression of env (envelope) gene products, stimulated by provocative results suggesting that these molecules might function as cellular address receptors. We found that env genes are also expressed in large numbers in normal human tissues. One must assume that these three different types of mobile-element-related messenger RNA molecules (transposases, reverse transcriptases, and env proteins) are expressed for use in functions of value in the various tissues and have been preserved in the genome because of their selective advantages. We conclude that it is possible that many specific cell lineage decisions are made and remembered by means of genetic switches similar to those that control the immunoglobulin and protocadherin and, probably, the seven transmembrane/olfactory gene families. We also conclude that complex genetic programs utilizing mobile-element-related genes program these events.