Abstract
Understanding the phenotypic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to genetic diversity between and within species is fundamental in studying the evolution of species. In particular, identifying the interspecific differences that lead to the reduction or even cessation of gene flow between nascent species is one of the main goals of speciation genetic research. Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences with the ability to move within genomes. TEs are ubiquitous throughout eukaryotic genomes and have been shown to alter regulatory networks, gene expression, and to rearrange genomes as a result of their transposition. However, no systematic effort has evaluated the role of TEs in speciation. We compiled the evidence for TEs as potential causes of reproductive isolation across a diversity of taxa. We find that TEs are often associated with hybrid defects that might preclude the fusion between species, but that the involvement of TEs in other barriers to gene flow different from postzygotic isolation is still relatively unknown. Finally, we list a series of guides and research avenues to disentangle the effects of TEs on the origin of new species.
Highlights
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which one lineage splits into two reproductively isolated groups of organisms [1]
If a barrier to gene flow is commonly caused by a certain type of molecular change, one can argue that that molecular change is important in either the origin of new species or the persistence of them when they face the possibility of collapse through gene flow
Similar to the hybrid dysgenesis phenomenon observed in D. melanogaster, when uninfected females are crossed to infected males, the resulting progeny show a high level of gonadal sterility, chromosomal nondisjunction and rearrangements, male recombination, and the occurrence of multiple visible mutations
Summary
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which one lineage splits into two reproductively isolated groups of organisms [1]. If crosses can be made, one can genetically map the loci underlying RI between organisms Such studies can establish the genetic changes that maintain species identity and, if divergence is recent, potentially reveal the molecular changes that were initially involved in speciation. If a barrier to gene flow is commonly caused by a certain type of molecular change, one can argue that that molecular change is important in either the origin of new species or the persistence of them when they face the possibility of collapse through gene flow This approach has, for example, revealed that chromosomal inversions are commonly associated with the suppression of recombination and frequently harbor gene combinations involved in isolation between species [18,19] (reviewed in [20]). We propose future directions and questions that need to be addressed in order to understand whether transposable elements are involved in speciation, in the maintenance of species by generating reproductive isolation, and whether they cause distinct macroevolutionary dynamics
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