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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Analysis of LINE-1 Retrotransposition at the Single Nucleus Level
Published on: April 23, 2016
How Athila retrotransposons survive in the Arabidopsis genome
1Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, AZ, USA. amarcoca@asu.edu
Background:
Transposable elements are selfish genetic sequences which only occasionally provide useful functions to their host species. In addition, models of mobile element evolution assume a second type of selfishness: elements of different families do not cooperate, but they independently fight for their survival in the host genome.
Results:
We show that recombination events among distantly related Athila retrotransposons have led to the generation of new Athila lineages. Their pattern of diversification suggests that Athila elements survive in Arabidopsis by a combination of selfish replication and of amplification of highly diverged copies with coding potential. Many Athila elements are non-autonomous but still conserve intact open reading frames which are under the effect of negative, purifying natural selection.
Conclusion:
The evolution of these mobile elements is far more complex than hitherto assumed. Strict selfish replication does not explain all the patterns observed.
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