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Evolutionary Genomics of Miniature Inverted-Repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs) in Plants

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Evolutionary Biology: Genome Evolution, Speciation, Coevolution and Origin of Life

Abstract

More and more evidence has accumulated in the past 20 years suggesting that MITEs may have played important roles in plant gene and genome evolution. With a large number of plant genomes sequenced and the development of computational programs for de novo MITE identification, a massive number of MITEs have been identified from plant genomes. The number of MITEs in a genome varied dramatically among different plant species. There is significant correlation between the number of MITEs and genome size, though there are several prominent exceptions. Some MITE families have a high copy number in a genome, probably due to one or several rounds of amplification bursts. Different MITE families in the same genome may have experienced amplification burst at different times, suggesting that their amplifications were triggered by distinct environments (such as stress) or genetic events. However, very few MITEs in plant genomes are currently active. MITEs are often distributed in gene-rich regions, and may be inserted in genes’ promoter regions or transcribed regions. They may affect (either upregulate or downregulate) the expression of nearby genes. MITEs may downregulate genes through small RNAs, which may be produced via NAT or double-stranded RNAs formed by transcribed MITE sequences. The presence/absence of MITEs as well as their potential effects on expression of nearby genes suggests that MITE may provide considerable physiological and phenotypic variations for a species. Important future studies on MITEs include the mechanisms of MITE activation and the effects of MITEs on gene and genome evolution.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant no. 31300299 and 30921002].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Horticulture Biology, Ministry of Education, and Department of Vegetable Crops, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Jiongjiong Chen, Qun Hu, Chen Lu & Hanhui Kuang

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  1. Jiongjiong Chen
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  2. Qun Hu
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  3. Chen Lu
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  4. Hanhui Kuang
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Correspondence to Hanhui Kuang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, Laboratoire Évolution Biologique et Modélisation, Université d'Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France

    Pierre Pontarotti

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Chen, J., Hu, Q., Lu, C., Kuang, H. (2014). Evolutionary Genomics of Miniature Inverted-Repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs) in Plants. In: Pontarotti, P. (eds) Evolutionary Biology: Genome Evolution, Speciation, Coevolution and Origin of Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07623-2_7

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