Plant Transposable Elements: Biology and Biotechnology

This new volume provides an up-to-date understanding of the numerous classes of plant transposable elements, the mobile units of DNA that comprise large portions of plant genomes, which are an important contributor for gene and genome evolution. Transposable elements (TEs) are major components of large plant genomes and main drivers of genome evolution, known to produce a wide variety of changes in plant gene expression and function. Providing a systematic interpretation of protocols designed to characterize TEs and their biotechnological roles, the volume explores TEs in plant development, their architecture, their epigenetic regulation, their use in DNA repair, their evolution and speciation, while also highlighting their importance in the approaching epoch of climate change. The volume begins with introduction of transposable elements, covering their classification and transposition. It delves into protocols designed to characterize TEs and their biotechnological applications. The book includes computational approaches for prediction and analysis, retro-transposon capture sequencing, and more. The section on transposon biology focuses on its role in plant development and as natural genetic engineers of genome mutation, evolution, and speciation. The book looks further into transposon applications in genome editing, exploring tagging and mutagenesis, genome engineering, and more.