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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Real-Time Quantification of the Effects of IS200/IS605 Family-Associated TnpB on Transposon Activity
Published on: January 20, 2023
Microsporidian genomes harbor a diverse array of transposable elements that demonstrate an ancestry of horizontal
Nicolas Parisot1, Adrian Pelin2, Cyrielle Gasc3
1Clermont Université, Université d'Auvergne, EA 4678 CIDAM, Clermont-Ferrand, France CNRS, UMR 6023, LMGE, Aubière, France ncorradi@uottawa.ca eric.peyretaillade@udamail.fr emmanuelle.lerat@univ-lyon1.fr.
Abstract:
Microsporidian genomes are the leading models to understand the streamlining in response to a pathogenic lifestyle; they are gene-poor and often possess small genomes. In this study, we show a feature of microsporidian genomes that contrasts this pattern of genome reduction. Specifically, genome investigations targeted at Anncaliia algerae, a human pathogen with a genome size of 23 Mb, revealed the presence of a hitherto undetected diversity in transposable elements (TEs). A total of 240 TE families per genome were identified, exceeding that found in many free-living fungi, and searches of microsporidian species revealed that these mobile elements represent a significant portion of their coding repertoire. Their phylogenetic analysis revealed that many cases of ancestry involve recent and bidirectional horizontal transfers with metazoans. The abundance and horizontal transfer origin of microsporidian TEs highlight a novel dimension of genome evolution in these intracellular pathogens, demonstrating that factors beyond reduction are at play in their diversification.
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