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A Field Guide to Eukaryotic Transposable Elements
Open accessAbstract
Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences that propagate within genomes. Through diverse invasion strategies, TEs have come to occupy a substantial fraction of nearly all eukaryotic genomes, and they represent a major source of genetic variation and novelty. Here we review the defining features of each major group of eukaryotic TEs and explore their evolutionary origins and relationships. We discuss how the unique biology of different TEs influences their propagation and distribution within and across genomes. Environmental and genetic factors acting at the level of the host species further modulate the activity, diversification, and fate of TEs, producing the dramatic variation in TE content observed across eukaryotes. We argue that cataloging TE diversity and dissecting the idiosyncratic behavior of individual elements are crucial to expanding our comprehension of their impact on the biology of genomes and the evolution of species.
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“LTR retrotransposons utilize viral-like retrotransposon-encoded products that include capsid, reverse transcriptase, and integrase”
From The Role of Retrotransposons and Endogenous Retroviruses in Age-Dependent Neurodegenerative Disorders (2024) · cites this paper as Wells & Feschotte 2020
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“The replication mechanism and encoded proteins of LTR retrotransposons are related to those of retroviruses.”
From The Role of Retrotransposons and Endogenous Retroviruses in Age-Dependent Neurodegenerative Disorders (2024) · cites this paper as Wells & Feschotte 2020
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“Contrary to the exogenous infectious agents discussed above, transposable elements are endogenous mobile genetic elements that can move and integrate into different locations within the genome [117,118].”
From What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer’s disease? (2025) · cites this paper as [118]
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Self-citationA unified classification system for eukaryotic transposable elements
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Self-citationThe Norway spruce genome sequence and conifer genome evolution
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Roles of transposable elements in the regulation of mammalian transcription
Fueyo, R., Judd, J., Feschotte, C., & Wysocka, J. (2022) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/s41580-022-00457-y · Cited by 451
Self-citationTransposable elements shape the evolution of mammalian development
Senft, A. D., & Macfarlan, T. S. (2021) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/s41576-021-00385-1 · Cited by 287
Evolutionary constraint and innovation across hundreds of placental mammals
Christmas, M. J., Kaplow, I. M., Genereux, D. P., Dong, M. X., Hughes, G. M., Li, X., Sullivan, P. F., Hindle, A. G., Andrews, G., Armstrong, J. C., et al. (2023) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abn3943 · Cited by 292
Earl Grey: A Fully Automated User-Friendly Transposable Element Annotation and Analysis Pipeline
Baril, T., Galbraith, J. D., & Hayward, A. (2024) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msae068 · Cited by 257
Chen, Y., Davidson, N., Wan, Y. K., Yao, F., Su, Y., Gamaarachchi, H., Sim, A., Patel, H., Low, H. M., Hendra, C., et al. (2025) · Nature Methods · doi:10.1038/s41592-025-02623-4 · Cited by 214
Metadata
- Authors
- Wells, J. N., & Feschotte, C.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wells, Jonathan N.
- Feschotte, Cédric
- Venue
- Annual Review of Genetics
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2020-11-23
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 539-561
- ISSN
- 0066-4197 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-2948
- PMC
- PMC8293684
- OpenAlex
- W3087081867
- Cited by
- 686
- References
- 176
- Citations by year
- 2026: 136 · 2025: 183 · 2024: 128 · 2023: 120 · 2022: 82 · 2021: 37
- FWCI
- 5.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annual Review of Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Human Genome Research Institute (U01HG009391)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM112972, R35GM122550)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genome Rearrangement Algorithms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities
- Keywords
- transposable elements, eukaryotic genomes, mobile DNA, transposon evolution, transposon diversity, host factors, genetic novelty, genome evolution, transposon classification
- MeSH terms
- Animals, DNA Transposable Elements, Humans, Genetic Variation, Genome, Evolution, Molecular, Eukaryota
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