'Junk' that matters: the role of transposable elements in bumblebee genome evolution.
Curr Opin Insect Sci
; 59: 101103, 2023 Oct.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37604302
ABSTRACT
Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences that are widely distributed in eukaryotic genomes, where they are known to serve as a major force in genome evolution. The phenotypic impacts of TEs, while less well-studied, have also been discovered. Bumblebees are globally important pollinators in natural ecosystems and agriculture. Although TEs comprise a small fraction of bumblebee genomes, emerging evidence suggests that TEs are the major contributor of genome size variation across species and are involved in the formation of new coding and regulatory sequences. We review recent discoveries related to TEs in bumblebees, as well as outlining three key questions for the future of the field. In the future, we argue long-read sequencing technologies and genome editing techniques will help us identify TEs in bumblebees, unveil mechanisms that could account for their silencing and limited abundance, and uncover their contributions to phenotypic diversification, ecological adaptation, and speciation.
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01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Curr Opin Insect Sci
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article