Abstract
Transposable elements (TEs) are nearly ubiquitous in eukaryotes. The increase in genomic data, as well as progress in genome annotation and molecular biology techniques, have revealed the vast number of ways mobile elements have impacted the evolution of eukaryotes. In addition to being the main cause of difference in haploid genome size, TEs have affected the overall organization of genomes by accumulating preferentially in some genomic regions, by causing structural rearrangements or by modifying the recombination rate. Although the vast majority of insertions is neutral or deleterious, TEs have been an important source of evolutionary novelties and have played a determinant role in the evolution of fundamental biological processes. TEs have been recruited in the regulation of host genes and are implicated in the evolution of regulatory networks. They have also served as a source of protein-coding sequences or even entire genes. The impact of TEs on eukaryotic evolution is only now being fully appreciated and the role they may play in a number of biological processes, such as speciation and adaptation, remains to be deciphered.
Highlights
Garrido-RamosSince their early discovery by Barbara McClintock, the impact that transposable elements (TEs) may have on their hosts has been a topic of great controversy
Neutral or slightly deleterious active TE families may have a large impact on genome evolution if they amplify into larger families, thereby resulting in TE-mediated diversification, which may further lead to speciation by increasing the chances of reproductive isolation
With the exponential increase of genomic data and improvement of annotation methods, researchers will likely discover new ways by which eukaryotic genomes have been affected by TEs
Summary
Since their early discovery by Barbara McClintock, the impact that transposable elements (TEs) may have on their hosts has been a topic of great controversy. TEs segregate at low frequency in natural populations of many organisms [5,6,7,8,9,10,11] and that uncontrolled TE amplification can cause hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila [12,13,14,15] suggest a negative impact of TEs on fitness. Another perspective on TEs came from the realization that differences in haploid genome size result from the differential amplification of TEs and are unrelated to the complexity of organisms. Speciation, with the goal of contributing to a more holistic understanding of the interactions between TEs and their host
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