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Transposable Elements and the Evolution of Insects
- Clément Gilbert1,Jean Peccoud2 andRichard Cordaux2
- View Affiliations and Author NotesHide Affiliations and Author Notes1Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, IRD, UMR Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; email:[email protected]2Laboratoire Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions, Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7267 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers CEDEX 9, France
- Vol. 66:355-372(Volume publication date January 2021)
- Copyright © 2021 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
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Clément Gilbert, Jean Peccoud, Richard Cordaux. 2021. Transposable Elements and the Evolution of Insects.Annual Review Entomology.66:355-372.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-070720-074650
Abstract
Insects are major contributors to our understanding of the interaction between transposable elements (TEs) and their hosts, owing to seminal discoveries, as well as to the growing number of sequenced insect genomes and population genomics and functional studies. Insect TE landscapes are highly variable both within and across insect orders, although phylogenetic relatedness appears to correlate with similarity in insect TE content. This correlation is unlikely to be solely due to inheritance of TEs from shared ancestors and may partly reflect preferential horizontal transfer of TEs between closely related species. The influence of insect traits on TE landscapes, however, remains unclear. Recent findings indicate that, in addition to being involved in insect adaptations and aging, TEs are seemingly at the cornerstone of insect antiviral immunity. Thus, TEs are emerging as essential insect symbionts that may have deleterious or beneficial consequences on their hosts, depending on context.





