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MITEs, Miniature Elements with a Major Role in Plant Genome Evolution

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Plant Transposable Elements

Part of the book series: Topics in Current Genetics ((TCG,volume 24))

Abstract

Miniature Inverted-repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs) are a particular type of class II transposons found in genomes in high copy numbers. Most MITEs are deletion derivatives of class II transposons whose transposases have been shown to mobilize them by a typical cut-and-paste mechanism. However, unlike class II transposons, MITEs can amplify rapidly and dramatically and attain very high copy numbers, in particular, in plant genomes. This high copy number, together with their close association with genes, endows MITEs with a high potential to generate variability, and impact gene and genome evolution.

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Abbreviations

MITE:

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable element

TE:

Transposable element

TIRs:

Terminal inverted repeats

TSD:

Target site duplication

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics, Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics, CRAG (CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB), Campus UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallés), 08193, Barcelona, Spain

    Hélène Guermonprez, Elizabeth Hénaff & Josep M. Casacuberta

  2. Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, UMR1318 INRA-AgroParisTech INRA Centre de Versailles-Grignon, Bâtiment 7, Route de St-Cyr (RD10), 78026, Versailles Cedex, France

    Marta Cifuentes

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  1. Hélène Guermonprez
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  2. Elizabeth Hénaff
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  3. Marta Cifuentes
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  4. Josep M. Casacuberta
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Correspondence to Josep M. Casacuberta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB), INRA Versailles, UMR 1318, Versailles Cedex, 78026, France

    Marie-Angèle Grandbastien

  2. , Centre de Recerca en Agrigenomica (CRAG), CSIC-RTA-UAB, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

    Josep M. Casacuberta

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Guermonprez, H., Hénaff, E., Cifuentes, M., Casacuberta, J.M. (2012). MITEs, Miniature Elements with a Major Role in Plant Genome Evolution. In: Grandbastien, MA., Casacuberta, J. (eds) Plant Transposable Elements. Topics in Current Genetics, vol 24. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31842-9_7

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