Would a good experimental test of the transposon hypothesis be gene editing a simple model organism to remove transposons? Is CRISPR/​Cas9 precise enough to do something like that?
That would be an excellent test. It would also probably be difficult, because most of the genome consists of chunks of dead transposon, so attempting to cut them out is liable to leave the genome looking like a slasher film.
Probably an easier approach would be to activate piRNA-based transposon silencing (which represses transposons in the germline IIRC) in non-germline cells.
Would a good experimental test of the transposon hypothesis be gene editing a simple model organism to remove transposons? Is CRISPR/​Cas9 precise enough to do something like that?
That would be an excellent test. It would also probably be difficult, because most of the genome consists of chunks of dead transposon, so attempting to cut them out is liable to leave the genome looking like a slasher film.
Probably an easier approach would be to activate piRNA-based transposon silencing (which represses transposons in the germline IIRC) in non-germline cells.
What steps could be taken to make that happen? Is anyone working on it?