Genomic diversity generated by a transposable element burst in a rice recombinant inbred population
Jinfeng Chen, Lu Lu, Sofia Robb, Matthew A. Collin, Yutaka Okumoto, Jason Stajich, Susan R. Wessler
Abstract
Significance Transposable elements (TEs) represent the largest component of the genomes of higher eukaryotes. Among this component are some TEs that have attained very high copy numbers, with hundreds, even thousands, of elements. By documenting the spread of mPing elements throughout the genomes of a rice population, we demonstrate that such bursts of amplification generate functionally relevant genomic variations upon which selection can act. Specifically, continued mPing amplification increases the number of tightly linked elements that, in turn, increases the frequency of structural variations that appear to be derived from aberrant transposition events. The significance of this finding is that it provides a TE-mediated mechanism that may generate much of the structural variation represented by pan-genomes in plants and other organisms.