The impact of insertion bias into piRNA clusters on the invasion of transposable elements.

Abstract

This study challenges the pre-existing understanding of the TE dynamics by investigating the potential adaptive role of insertion bias into piRNA clusters. Using extensive forward simulations, we demonstrate that while insertion bias significantly alters TE invasion dynamics, it is generally not beneficial for the TE's spread in populations. Our results also show that transposable elements (TEs) that avoid piRNA clusters tend to do better than those that are more likely to preferencially insert into these clusters. This work provides novel insights into the complex dynamics between TEs and host genomes, showing the limited scenarios where the insertion bias could be advantageous to TEs. These results open new area for research into TE invasion dynamics and the evolution of host-TE interactions, further contributing to our understanding of genome evolution and stability.