Transposable Elements: Drivers of Regulatory Evolution

Eukaryotic genomes are replete with sequences derived from selfish genetic elements, such as transposable elements (TEs) and endogenous viruses. For example, half of the human genome is made of TE sequences. While historically understudied, we now appreciate that these elements have had a profound influence on the biology and evolution of species. Notably, the coding and noncoding sequences dispersed by TEs have been repeatedly repurposed to create new genes and regulatory sequences fostering evolutionary innovations in physiology and development. Furthermore, it is increasingly clear that the dysregulation of TEs contribute to many diseases. In this talk I will focus on the contribution of TEs to the origin of cis-regulatory elements (CREs) such as promoters and enhancers in mammalian genomes. We recently estimated that TEs account for at least 25% of ~1,000,000 CREs annotated in the human genome. I will explore the properties of TEs that facilitate their cooption into cell-type and species-specific CREs and the general principles underlying their integration and tinkering of gene regulatory networks