1. Plant Biology

The Arabidopsis thaliana mobilome and its impact at the species level

  1. Leandro Quadrana
  2. Amanda Bortolini Silveira
  3. George F Mayhew
  4. Chantal LeBlanc
  5. Robert A Martienssen
  6. Jeffrey A Jeddeloh
  7. Vincent Colot  Is a corresponding author
  1. Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, France
  2. Roche NimbleGen, Inc, United States
  3. Yale University, United States
  4. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15716
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  1. Leandro Quadrana
  2. Amanda Bortolini Silveira
  3. George F Mayhew
  4. Chantal LeBlanc
  5. Robert A Martienssen
  6. Jeffrey A Jeddeloh
  7. Vincent Colot
(2016)
The Arabidopsis thaliana mobilome and its impact at the species level
eLife 5:e15716.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15716
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Abstract

Transposable elements (TEs) are powerful motors of genome evolution yet a comprehensive assessment of recent transposition activity at the species level is lacking for most organisms. Here, using genome sequencing data for 211 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions taken from across the globe, we identify thousands of recent transposition events involving half of the 326 TE families annotated in this plant species. We further show that the composition and activity of the 'mobilome' vary extensively between accessions in relation to climate and genetic factors. Moreover, TEs insert equally throughout the genome and are rapidly purged by natural selection from gene-rich regions because they frequently affect genes, in multiple ways. Remarkably, loci controlling adaptive responses to the environment are the most frequent transposition targets observed. These findings demonstrate the pervasive, species-wide impact that a rich mobilome can have and the importance of transposition as a recurrent generator of large-effect alleles.

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Author details

  1. Leandro Quadrana

    Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  2. Amanda Bortolini Silveira

    Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  3. George F Mayhew

    Roche NimbleGen, Inc, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    George F Mayhew, GFM declares a competing interest as employee of Roche NimbleGen Inc..

  4. Chantal LeBlanc

    Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  5. Robert A Martienssen

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Palo Alto, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

  6. Jeffrey A Jeddeloh

    Roche NimbleGen, Inc, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    Jeffrey A Jeddeloh, JAJ declares a competing interest as employee of Roche NimbleGen Inc..

  7. Vincent Colot

    Ecole Normale Supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
    For correspondence
    colot@biologie.ens.fr
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Daniel Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: March 2, 2016
  2. Accepted: June 1, 2016
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 3, 2016 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: June 22, 2016 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2016, Quadrana et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Leandro Quadrana
  2. Amanda Bortolini Silveira
  3. George F Mayhew
  4. Chantal LeBlanc
  5. Robert A Martienssen
  6. Jeffrey A Jeddeloh
  7. Vincent Colot
(2016)
The Arabidopsis thaliana mobilome and its impact at the species level
eLife 5:e15716.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15716

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