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The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation

Understanding the phenotypic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to genetic diversity between and within species is fundamental in studying the evolution of species. In particular, identifying the interspecific differences that lead to the reduction or even cessation of gene flow between nascen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio, Matute, Daniel R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5977194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29762547
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes9050254
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author Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio
Matute, Daniel R.
author_facet Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio
Matute, Daniel R.
author_sort Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio
collection PubMed
description Understanding the phenotypic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to genetic diversity between and within species is fundamental in studying the evolution of species. In particular, identifying the interspecific differences that lead to the reduction or even cessation of gene flow between nascent species is one of the main goals of speciation genetic research. Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences with the ability to move within genomes. TEs are ubiquitous throughout eukaryotic genomes and have been shown to alter regulatory networks, gene expression, and to rearrange genomes as a result of their transposition. However, no systematic effort has evaluated the role of TEs in speciation. We compiled the evidence for TEs as potential causes of reproductive isolation across a diversity of taxa. We find that TEs are often associated with hybrid defects that might preclude the fusion between species, but that the involvement of TEs in other barriers to gene flow different from postzygotic isolation is still relatively unknown. Finally, we list a series of guides and research avenues to disentangle the effects of TEs on the origin of new species.
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spelling pubmed-59771942018-05-31 The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio Matute, Daniel R. Genes (Basel) Review Understanding the phenotypic and molecular mechanisms that contribute to genetic diversity between and within species is fundamental in studying the evolution of species. In particular, identifying the interspecific differences that lead to the reduction or even cessation of gene flow between nascent species is one of the main goals of speciation genetic research. Transposable elements (TEs) are DNA sequences with the ability to move within genomes. TEs are ubiquitous throughout eukaryotic genomes and have been shown to alter regulatory networks, gene expression, and to rearrange genomes as a result of their transposition. However, no systematic effort has evaluated the role of TEs in speciation. We compiled the evidence for TEs as potential causes of reproductive isolation across a diversity of taxa. We find that TEs are often associated with hybrid defects that might preclude the fusion between species, but that the involvement of TEs in other barriers to gene flow different from postzygotic isolation is still relatively unknown. Finally, we list a series of guides and research avenues to disentangle the effects of TEs on the origin of new species. MDPI 2018-05-15 /pmc/articles/PMC5977194/ /pubmed/29762547 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes9050254 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Serrato-Capuchina, Antonio
Matute, Daniel R.
The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title_full The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title_fullStr The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title_short The Role of Transposable Elements in Speciation
title_sort role of transposable elements in speciation
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5977194/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29762547
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes9050254
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