[Active miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements transposon in plants: a review].

Area of Science:

• Genetics
• Molecular Biology
• Genomics

Background:

• Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) possess characteristics of both DNA and RNA transposons.
• While many MITE families are known, research on active MITEs remains limited.
• Understanding active MITEs is crucial for deciphering their role in genome evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in the study of active Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs).
• To consolidate information on the structure, copy number, evolution, and transposition of active MITEs.
• To provide a foundation for identifying novel active MITEs and studying their amplification mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of existing research on active MITEs.
• Comparative analysis of MITE families based on structural and transpositional characteristics.
• Categorization of active MITEs into families like Tourist-like, Stowaway-like, and Mutator-like.

Main Results:

• Active MITEs predominantly belong to the Tourist-like family (e.g., mPing, mGing).
• Other identified active MITEs include DTstu1 and MITE-39 (Stowaway-like) and AhMITEs1 (Mutator-like).
• Key characteristics such as terminal inverse repeats, target site duplications, copy number, and transposition patterns were summarized.

Conclusions:

• Active MITEs display a unique combination of transposon features.
• This review provides a comprehensive overview of known active MITEs.
• The findings facilitate further research into MITE identification, transposition, and amplification mechanisms.