Transposable Elements as Catalysts of Regulatory Evolution

Eukaryotic genomes are replete with sequences derived from selfish genetic elements, such as transposable elements and endogenous viruses. In this talk, I will present a snapshot of the myriad ways these elements have influenced the biology of their hosts. I will summarize a body of evidence illustrating how regulatory and coding sequences prefabricated and dispersed by mobile elements have been repurposed repeatedly during vertebrate evolution to foster biological novelties –-and particularly in transcriptional regulation.