Transposable elements are a nearly ubiquitous component of eukaryotic genomes. While often described as parasitic genetic elements, other evidence suggests that transposable elements can become domesticated and contribute to organismal function. There is little empirical data on the positive or negative contribution of transposable elements to organismal traits. We hypothesized that mutations in transposable element genes would have less deleterious effects than mutations in other plant genes. We conducted an assay of phenotypes associated with growth and reproduction in a collection of insertion mutation lines in Arabidopsis thaliana that disrupted the sequence of a transposable element gene. The transposable element loci were from locations dispersed across the genome, and included loci from several element families. Overall, we found that mutants in transposable element genes were similar to mutants in other types of loci for the measured traits, in most cases with a distribution of effects centered on life history trait values of wild-type plants critical to population ecology processes. If transposable elements are predominantly parasitic, their deleterious effects were not uncovered by these disruptive mutations. Further characterization of the positive, negative or neutral contribution of transposable element sequences would address unresolved questions about the contribution of transposition and selection to genome evolution.

中文翻译：

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破坏破坏者：移动元素突变对生态重要生活史特征的影响

转座因子是真核基因组中几乎无处不在的组成部分。虽然经常被描述为寄生遗传元件，但其他证据表明转座元件可以被驯化并有助于生物体功能。关于转座因子对生物性状的积极或消极贡献的经验数据很少。我们假设转座元件基因的突变比其他植物基因的突变具有更少的有害影响。我们在拟南芥中的一组插入突变系中进行了与生长和繁殖相关的表型分析，这些插入突变系破坏了转座元件基因的序列。转座元件基因座来自分散在基因组中的位置，并且包括来自几个元件家族的基因座。全面的，我们发现转座元件基因中的突变体与其他类型基因座中测量性状的突变体相似，在大多数情况下，其影响分布集中在对种群生态过程至关重要的野生型植物的生活史特征值上。如果转座因子主要是寄生性的，这些破坏性突变并没有发现它们的有害影响。对转座元件序列的积极、消极或中性贡献的进一步表征将解决有关转座和选择对基因组进化的贡献的未解决问题。在大多数情况下，影响分布集中在对种群生态过程至关重要的野生型植物的生活史特征值上。如果转座因子主要是寄生性的，这些破坏性突变并没有发现它们的有害影响。对转座元件序列的积极、消极或中性贡献的进一步表征将解决有关转座和选择对基因组进化的贡献的悬而未决的问题。在大多数情况下，影响分布集中在对种群生态过程至关重要的野生型植物的生活史特征值上。如果转座因子主要是寄生性的，这些破坏性突变并没有发现它们的有害影响。对转座元件序列的积极、消极或中性贡献的进一步表征将解决有关转座和选择对基因组进化的贡献的未解决问题。