title: Horizontal transfers of transposable elements in eukaryotes: The flying genes.
abstract: Transposable elements (TEs) are the major components of eukaryotic genomes. Their propensity to densely populate and in some cases invade the genomes of plants and animals is in contradiction with the fact that transposition is strictly controlled by several molecular pathways acting at either transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels. Horizontal transfers, defined as the transmission of genetic material between sexually isolated species, have long been considered as rare phenomena. Here, we show that the horizontal transfers of transposable elements (HTTs) are very frequent in ecosystems. The exact mechanisms of such transfers are not well understood, but species involved in close biotic interactions, like parasitism, show a propensity to exchange genetic material horizontally. We propose that HTTs allow TEs to escape the silencing machinery of their host genome and may therefore be an important mechanism for their survival and their dissemination in eukaryotes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire « Génome et Développement des plantes », UMR 5096 CNRS/UPVD, Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, 66870 Perpignan, France. Electronic address: panaud@univ-perp.fr.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Panaud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D010271:Parasites / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements
keywords: Eucaryotes; Eukaryotes; Genomics; Génomique; Horizontal transfers; Parasitism; Parasitisme; Transferts horizontaux; Transposable elements; Éléments transposables