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Researchers at Ohio State have built a computational tool called PrinTE that simulates how transposable elements — DNA snippets that copy-paste themselves into genomes — drive genome expansion and contraction over millions of years. A case study on a fungal genome revealed that insertion rates outpaced deletions 4–5x, but bursts of insertions were eventually followed by a host-driven suppression response. The tool is already being used by scientists worldwide.
Scientists at The Ohio State University have developed PrinTE, a new computational simulator that traces the evolutionary history of transposable elements (TEs) — nicknamed "jumping genes" — which can copy and paste themselves throughout a genome, dramatically inflating its size. Unlike previous tools that captured only a single snapshot in time, PrinTE works forward from a reconstructed ancestral genome, running thousands of simulations to find the trajectory that best matches the modern-day genome.
The team tested PrinTE on the fungal species myrtle rust, whose genome has ballooned to 1 billion base pairs — enormous for a fungus — due to TE activity. The simulations revealed that TE insertions occurred at 4–5 times the rate of deletions, but these bursts were followed by a host-driven suppression response, much like an immune system catching up to an infection.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Understanding how jumping genes reshape genomes could one day enable "genomic rescue" strategies — slowing or reversing TE activity in species under threat — and sets a new gold standard for studying genome size evolution.
