Sep 2026· Trends in Genetics· 0 citations· 103 references
Medicine
TL;DR
It is argued the role of TEs as an endogenous mutagen means they demand a more central place in mutation research and can no longer be sidelined as 'junk' given the genetic variation they generate.
Abstract
Even though transposable elements (TEs) are known to be ubiquitous, studies on mutation rates often overlook this dynamic component of the genome. Fortunately, both our understanding of the mechanisms and assays of movement within and between lineages have expanded. In this review, we aggregate direct estimates of TE mutation rates from the literature to quantify the mutagenicity of mobile DNA. Overall, based on a subset of comparable studies, the mean rate of gain is 1.6 × 10-3 elements per copy per generation, an order of magnitude faster than the mean rate of loss (1.9 × 10-4). We discuss challenges for comparing rates across studies and outline the major genotypic and phenotypic consequences of TE movement. In conclusion, TEs can no longer be sidelined as 'junk' given the genetic variation they generate. Instead, we argue the role of TEs as an endogenous mutagen means they demand a more central place in mutation research.
Transposable elements (TEs) are powerful endogenous mutagens, but our understanding of the “mobilome” - the set of mobile TEs at the species level - has largely been shaped by the study of a single reference genome. To overcome this reference-centric view, we produced long-read genome assemblies for 91 Arabidopsis thal...
A. Petit, Erwann Caillieux, Mathilde Reignier et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
Transposable elements (TEs), originally characterized in maize, are ubiquitous features of eukaryotes and replicate within genomes independent of the host replication cycle. This replicative advantage can result in genomes that are almost entirely composed of these selfish genetic elements. Most mutations caused by TE...
A. Kalmykova, Damon Lisch, J. Blumenstiel· Annual Review of Genetics· 0 citations
Far from being “junk” and devoid of function, transposable elements have been identified as players in genomes evolution and regulation, and are also used as valuable genetic markers to study population differentiation. Here we present a detailed review on how transposons participated in human evolution: from adaptat...
Giorgia Modenini, Paolo Abondio· Frontiers in Genetics· 0 citations
Exogenous and endogenous mutagens generate a wide variety of DNA lesions, including bulky adducts, chemical modifications, and single- or double-stranded breaks. A phenomenon called “lesion segregation,” in which lesions evade repair and persist for multiple cell divisions, has recently been documented in tumors and he...
Targeted mutagenesis is a crucial tool for in vivo continuous evolution. However, existing methods for long-range targeted mutagenesis in vivo often face limitations such as low efficiency, poor host compatibility, operational complexity, and uneven distribution of mutations across these windows. In this study, we deve...
Yu-Ou Sheng, Hui-Zhen Ni, Shi-Hao Yang et al.· Synthetic and Systems Biotec...· 0 citations
