The blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) genome reveals a recent accumulation of LTR retrotransposons

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements that can move around the genome, and as such are a source of genomic variability. Based on their characteristics we can annotate TEs within the host genome and classify them into specific TE types and families. The increasing number of available high-quality genome references in recent years provides an excellent resource that will enhance the understanding of the role of recently active TEs on genetic variation and phenotypic evolution. Here we showcase the use of a high-quality TE annotation to understand the distinct effect of recent and ancient TE insertions on the evolution of genomic variation, within our study species the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). We investigate how these distinct TE categories are distributed along the genome and evaluate how their coverage across the genome is correlated with four genomic features: recombination rate, gene coverage, CpG island coverage and GC content. We found within the recent TE insertions an accumulation of LTRs previously not seen in birds. While the coverage of recent TE insertions was negatively correlated with both GC content and recombination rate, the correlation with recombination rate disappeared and turned positive for GC content when considering ancient TE insertions.

Automated summary

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile genetic elements that contribute to genomic variability. Recent advancements in high-quality genome references have provided valuable resources for studying the role of TEs in genetic variation and phenotypic evolution. This study demonstrates the use of TE annotation to understand the distinct effects of recent and ancient TE insertions on genomic variation.