Laboratory of evolutionary botany, Institute of biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Mol Ecol Resour. 2013 Sep;13(5):765-75. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12133. Epub 2013 Jun 25.
Transposable elements (TEs) usually represent the most abundant and dynamic fraction of genomes in almost all living organisms. The overall capacity of such 'junk DNA' to induce mutations and foster the reorganization of functional genomes suggests that TE may be of central evolutionary significance. However, to what extent TE dynamics drive and is driven by the evolutionary trajectory of host taxa remains poorly known. Further work addressing the fate of TE insertions in natural populations is necessary to shed light on their impact on microevolutionary processes. Here, we highlight methodological approaches (i.e. transposon displays and high-throughput sequencing), tracking TE insertions across large numbers of individuals and discuss their pitfalls and benefits for molecular ecology surveys.
转座元件 (TEs) 通常代表几乎所有生物体基因组中最丰富和最活跃的部分。这种“垃圾 DNA”诱导突变和促进功能基因组重组的整体能力表明，TE 可能具有核心进化意义。然而，TE 动态在多大程度上驱动和受宿主分类群进化轨迹的驱动仍知之甚少。进一步研究解决自然种群中转座元件插入的命运问题对于了解它们对微观进化过程的影响是必要的。在这里，我们强调了一些方法学方法（即转座子显示和高通量测序），这些方法可以在大量个体中追踪 TE 插入，并讨论了它们在分子生态学调查中的缺陷和优势。
