Abstract
This chapter focuses on recent advances in the study of insect transposable elements (TEs). A brief introduction on TE classification and transposition mechanisms is given. It also describes the current approaches to studying insect TEs and highlights the impact and the evolutionary dynamics of TEs in insect genomes. It discusses the applications of TEs in genetic and molecular analysis of insects. TEs have the ability to replicate and spread in the genome as primarily “selfish” genetic units. TE insertion and recombination are major sources of potentially detrimental mutations, and the host genomes have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to control TE activity. The same insertional or recombinatory activities by TEs generate a great deal of genetic and genomic plasticity and provide the raw material for adaptive evolution. TEs have been used as tools to genetically manipulate cells/organisms, taking advantage of their ability to integrate cognate DNA in the genome.
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