Recent amplification and impact of MITEs on the genome of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.)

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are a particular type of defective class II transposons present in genomes as highly homogeneous populations of small elements. Their high copy number and close association to genes make their potential impact on gene evolution particularly relevant. Here, we present a detailed analysis of the MITE families directly related to grapevine “cut-and-paste” transposons. Our results show that grapevine MITEs have transduplicated and amplified genomic sequences, including gene sequences and fragments of other mobile elements. Our results also show that although some of the MITE families were already present in the ancestor of the European and American Vitis wild species, they have been amplified and have been actively transposing accompanying grapevine domestication and breeding. We show that MITEs are abundant in grapevine and some of them are frequently inserted within the untranslated regions of grapevine genes. MITE insertions are highly polymorphic among grapevine cultivars, which frequently generate transcript variability. The data presented here show that MITEs have greatly contributed to the grapevine genetic diversity which has been used for grapevine domestication and breeding.