Plant genomics and transposable elements: junk dna?

It has long been known that an important part of the Plant and Eukaryotic genomes in general is made up of transposable elements, that is, fragments of DNA capable of generating new copies of themselves in other places of the genome. The complete sequencing of the genomes of about 30 plants has corroborated this fact. For example, 20% of the melon genome, 50% of the coffee genome, 85% of the corn genome or 90% of the wheat genome is constituted by this type of elements. In this talk I will discuss its origin, its impact on the activity of genes, on the stability of genomes, and on the evolution of species.

Carlos M Vicient, Bachelor and PhD in Biology at the UB, Agricultural Technical Engineer at the UPC. CSIC scientist at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB located on the UAB Campus. Postdoctoral stays at the University of Perpignan and at the Institute of Biotechnology of the University of Helsinki. He has participated in numerous outreach activities, including being responsible for the Podcast Fascination for Plants.