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#TransposableElements in #evolution . New paper from Hanne De Kort and others. Increased heterozygosity in #Arabidopsis lyrata is found near to TEs, and is hypothesised to play an important role in maintaining diversity despite inbreeding. Curiously the SNPs downstream of transposon start sites are enriched in genes with roles in stress resistance but not upstream. Interesting idea that this represents a selective advantage to maintaining TEs but, as authors acknowledge, might not be a direct relationship (i.e. TE spreading may result in increased mutation rate, which selection could then act on, even if TEs themselves are neutral or deleterious). Interesting to see if this is found in other species.
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