Modelling the proliferation of transposable elements in populations under environmental stress

Although transposable elements were discovered in the middle of the 20th century and are known as one of the main genome components, their impact on genome evolution has not been fully elucidated yet. However, it was so far shown that mutations induced by transposition events can lead to significant genetic disorders and affect an organism’s phenotype. Furthermore, since every mutation can also be beneficial, the natural question that arises is whether under certain conditions the activity of TEs can be considered as an evolutionary helper i.e. a mechanism that has positive contribution to the evolution of a population. In this article, we investigate the evolution of sexual diploid populations which are hosts for active TE families. Our purpose is to explore the relationship between the environmental change, that influences such population and activity of those TEs that are present in genomes. Based on results obtained from the stochastic computational model, we conclude that in presence of progressive environmental change the activity of TEs, and specifically mutations that are mediated by their activity, can noticeably facilitate the process of adaptation to varying conditions and prevent the population from extinction. The work was supported by National Science Centre, grant no. 2012/06/M/ST6/00438 ?These authors share senior authorship Krzysztof Gogolewski Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw, Poland Michał Startek Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw, Poland Anna Gambin Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw, Poland Arnaud Le Rouzic Évolution, Génomes, Comportement, Écologie, CNRS – IRD – Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France ar X iv :1 61 1. 04 81 2v 1 [ qbi o. PE ] 1 5 N ov 2 01 6 2 Krzysztof Gogolewski et al.