Dynamics and Evolution of Transposable Elements

This book describes the evolution of transposable elements (TEs). After a description of the main types of elements, their life and death within a species including regulation of transposition, their distribution in natural populations and on chromosomes is discussed. The impact of TEs on the host genome, the putative relationship between the environment and transposition rates lead to a discussion of the interaction (or co-evolution) of TEs and their host. These results introduce the analysis of the phylogenies of TEs and their interpretations according to different models i.e. horizontal versus vertical transmission. The question of the origin and of the general evolution of TEs is raised from the comparison of conserved regions such as reverse transcriptase or transposase-integrase domains.