The Epigenetic Control of the Transposable Element Life Cycle in Plant Genomes and Beyond

Abstract

Within the life cycle of a living organism, another life cycle exists for the selfish genome inhabitants, which are called transposable elements (TEs). These mobile sequences invade, duplicate, amplify, and diversify within a genome, increasing the genome's size and generating new mutations. Cells act to defend their genome, but rather than permanently destroying TEs, they use chromatin-level repression and epigenetic inheritance to silence TE activity. This level of silencing is ephemeral and reversible, leading to a dynamic equilibrium between TE suppression and reactivation within a host genome. The coexistence of the TE and host genome can also lead to the domestication of the TE to serve in host genome evolution and function. In this review, we describe the life cycle of a TE, with emphasis on how epigenetic regulation is harnessed to control TEs for host genome stability and innovation.