Transposable elements and the epigenetic regulation of the genome

@article{Slotkin2007TransposableEA,
  title={Transposable elements and the epigenetic regulation of the genome},
  author={R. Keith Slotkin and Robert A. Martienssen},
  journal={Nature Reviews Genetics},
  year={2007},
  volume={8},
  pages={272-285}
}
Overlapping epigenetic mechanisms have evolved in eukaryotic cells to silence the expression and mobility of transposable elements (TEs). Owing to their ability to recruit the silencing machinery, TEs have served as building blocks for epigenetic phenomena, both at the level of single genes and across larger chromosomal regions. Important progress has been made recently in understanding these silencing mechanisms. In addition, new insights have been gained into how this silencing has been co… 
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Genomes have evolved molecular mechanisms that allow the presence of silenced TEs within transcriptionally permissive chromatin environments, and Epigenetic modulation of intragenic TEs often contributes to gene regulation, phenotypic expression, and genome evolution.
The effect of transposable elements on phenotypic variation: insights from plants to humans
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The key roles of TEs in fine-tuning the regulation of gene expression leading to phenotypic plasticity in plants and humans are summarized and the implications for adaption and natural selection are summarized.
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Transposable elements may have driven species evolution via their ability to heritably alter the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in mammals by rewiring regulatory networks and causing genome rearrangements.
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This short review presents the current bioinformatic tools to achieve the study of the epigenetic modifications associated to TEs especially at a locus-specific level to determine their individual influence on gene functioning.
Epigenetic regulation of transposable elements in plants.
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    Annual review of plant biology
  • 2009
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Observations suggest that naturally occurring changes in transposon activity may have had an important impact on the causes and consequences of epigenetic silencing in plants.
Interactions between transposable elements and Argonautes have (probably) been shaping the Drosophila genome throughout evolution.
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How these understudied residents of the authors' genome can both aid tumorigenesis and potentially be harnessed for anticancer therapies is described.
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TLDR
Enormous pools of genome data and new technologies for reverse genetics will lead to a powerful new era of TE analysis in plants, where epigenetic regulation has been transformed from a process to silence invading TEs and viruses into a key strategy for regulating plant genes.
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