Plant molecular breeding is expected to give significant gains in cultivar development through development and utilization of suitable molecular marker systems for genetic diversity analysis, rapid DNA fingerprinting, identification of true hybrids, trait mapping and marker-assisted selection. Transposable elements (TEs) are the most abundant component in a genome and being used as genetic markers in the plant molecular breeding. Here, we review on the high copious transposable element belonging to class-II DNA TEs called "miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements" (MITEs). MITEs are ubiquitous, short and non-autonomous DNA transposable elements which have a tendency to insert into genes and genic regions have paved a way for the development of functional DNA marker systems in plant genomes. This review summarises the characteristics of MITEs, principles and methodologies for development of MITEs based DNA markers, bioinformatics tools and resources for plant MITE discovery and their utilization in crop improvement.

中文翻译：

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微型反向重复转座元件（MITE），衍生插入多态性作为分子植物育种标记系统的工具。

通过开发和利用合适的分子标记系统进行遗传多样性分析，快速DNA指纹识别，真正的杂种鉴定，性状作图和标记辅助选择，预计植物分子育种将在品种开发中取得重大进展。转座因子（TEs）是基因组中最丰富的组成部分，在植物分子育种中被用作遗传标记。在这里，我们回顾了属于II类DNA TE的高度丰富的转座因子，称为“微型反向重复转座因子”（MITEs）。MITE是普遍存在的，短的和非自主的DNA转座元件，其倾向于插入基因和基因区域中，为植物基因组中功能性DNA标记系统的发展铺平了道路。