Population genetics and molecular evolution of DNA sequences in transposable elements. I. A simulation framework.

ABSTRACT: A population genetic simulation framework is developed to understand the behavior and molecular evolution of DNA sequences of transposable elements. Our model incorporates random transposition and excision of transposable element (TE) copies, two modes of selection against TEs, and degeneration of transpositional activity by point mutations. We first investigated the relationships between the behavior of the copy number of TEs and these parameters. Our results show that when selection is weak, the genome can maintain a relatively large number of TEs, but most of them are less active. In contrast, with strong selection, the genome can maintain only a limited number of TEs but the proportion of active copies is large. In such a case, there could be substantial fluctuations of the copy number

SUBMITTER: Kijima TE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3813876 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature