Plant Transposable Elements

Transposable elements are DNA sequences with the capacity to move within a genome. Although their presence and impact has long been known, the recent genome-wide analysis of many eukaryotic genomes has uncovered their major role in genome dynamics and function. The present book explains how to recognize and study transposable elements, e.g. by using state-of-the-art strategies based on new-generation sequencing. Moreover, the impact of transposable elements on plant genome structure and function is reviewed in detail and illustrated in examples and case studies.

The book is intended both for readers familiar with the field and for newcomers. With large-scale sequencing becoming increasingly available, more and more people will come across transposable element sequences in their data, and this volume will hopefully help to convince them that transposable elements are not just "junk" DNA, and may actually be the most interesting and fun part of their data!