Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity

Abstract Transposable elements (TEs) are widespread across eukaryotic genomes, yet their content varies widely between different species. Factors shaping the diversity of TEs are poorly understood. Understanding the evolution of TEs is difficult because their sequences diversify rapidly and TEs are...

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Main Authors: Lisa Schneider, Yi‐Ke Guo, David Birch, Peter Sarkies
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2021-06-01
Series:Molecular Systems Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209600
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author Lisa Schneider
Yi‐Ke Guo
David Birch
Peter Sarkies
author_facet Lisa Schneider
Yi‐Ke Guo
David Birch
Peter Sarkies
author_sort Lisa Schneider
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Transposable elements (TEs) are widespread across eukaryotic genomes, yet their content varies widely between different species. Factors shaping the diversity of TEs are poorly understood. Understanding the evolution of TEs is difficult because their sequences diversify rapidly and TEs are often transferred through non‐conventional means such as horizontal gene transfer. We developed a method to track TE evolution using network analysis to visualise TE sequence and TE content across different genomes. We illustrate our method by first using a monopartite network to study the sequence evolution of Tc1/mariner elements across focal species. We identify a connection between two subfamilies associated with convergent acquisition of a domain from a protein‐coding gene. Second, we use a bipartite network to study how TE content across species is shaped by epigenetic silencing mechanisms. We show that the presence of Piwi‐interacting RNAs is associated with differences in network topology after controlling for phylogenetic effects. Together, our method demonstrates how a network‐based approach can identify hitherto unknown properties of TE evolution across species.
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spelling doaj.art-0f31713da41040b48b1bd49e8bf86d2e2024-03-03T03:19:19ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922021-06-01176n/an/a10.15252/msb.20209600Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversityLisa Schneider0Yi‐Ke Guo1David Birch2Peter Sarkies3MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences London UKData Sciences Institute Imperial College London UKData Sciences Institute Imperial College London UKMRC London Institute of Medical Sciences London UKAbstract Transposable elements (TEs) are widespread across eukaryotic genomes, yet their content varies widely between different species. Factors shaping the diversity of TEs are poorly understood. Understanding the evolution of TEs is difficult because their sequences diversify rapidly and TEs are often transferred through non‐conventional means such as horizontal gene transfer. We developed a method to track TE evolution using network analysis to visualise TE sequence and TE content across different genomes. We illustrate our method by first using a monopartite network to study the sequence evolution of Tc1/mariner elements across focal species. We identify a connection between two subfamilies associated with convergent acquisition of a domain from a protein‐coding gene. Second, we use a bipartite network to study how TE content across species is shaped by epigenetic silencing mechanisms. We show that the presence of Piwi‐interacting RNAs is associated with differences in network topology after controlling for phylogenetic effects. Together, our method demonstrates how a network‐based approach can identify hitherto unknown properties of TE evolution across species.https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209600epigeneticsevolutionnetworkspiRNAstransposable elements
spellingShingle Lisa Schneider
Yi‐Ke Guo
David Birch
Peter Sarkies
Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
Molecular Systems Biology
epigenetics
evolution
networks
piRNAs
transposable elements
title Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
title_full Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
title_fullStr Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
title_full_unstemmed Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
title_short Network‐based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
title_sort network based visualisation reveals new insights into transposable element diversity
topic epigenetics
evolution
networks
piRNAs
transposable elements
url https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.20209600
work_keys_str_mv AT lisaschneider networkbasedvisualisationrevealsnewinsightsintotransposableelementdiversity
AT yikeguo networkbasedvisualisationrevealsnewinsightsintotransposableelementdiversity
AT davidbirch networkbasedvisualisationrevealsnewinsightsintotransposableelementdiversity
AT petersarkies networkbasedvisualisationrevealsnewinsightsintotransposableelementdiversity