Marie Fablet

Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 | UCBL · Laboratoire de biométrie et biologie evolutive (LBBE)

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile repeated sequences found in all genomes. TEs are controlled by RNA interference pathways in most organisms, and this control involves the piRNA pathway and the siRNA pathway, which is also known to be the first line of antiviral defense in invertebrates. Using Drosophila, we recently showed that viral infectio...

Transposable elements (TEs) are parasite DNA sequences that are controlled by RNA interference pathways in many organisms. In insects, antiviral immunity is also achieved by the action of small RNAs. In the present study, we analyzed the impacts of an infection with Drosophila C Virus (DCV) and found that TEs are involved in a dual response: on the...

Global warming is forcing insect populations to move and adapt, triggering adaptive genetic responses. Thermal stress is known to alter gene expression, repressing the transcription of active genes, and inducing others, such as those encoding heat shock proteins. It has also been related to the activation of some specific Transposable Element (TE)...

Transposable elements (TEs) are parasite DNA sequences that are able to move and multiply along the chromosomes of all genomes. They can be controlled by the host through the targeting of silencing epigenetic marks, which may affect the chromatin structure of neighboring sequences, including genes. In this study, we used transcriptomic and epigenom...

Transposable elements (TEs) produce structural variants and are considered an important source of genetic diversity. Notably, TE-gene fusion transcripts, i.e. chimeric transcripts, have been associated with adaptation in several species. However, the identification of these chimeras remains hindered due to the lack of detection tools at a transcrip...

Lifespan differences between sexes is a puzzling question in human and evolutionary biology. Sex chromosomes have been proposed as playing a central role, and the Y male chromosome has been suspected of having a toxic genomic impact in this trait. As Y chromosomes are typically enriched in transposable elements (TE), this hypothesis suggests that i...

Transposable elements (TEs) are repeated DNA sequences potentially able to move throughout the genome. In addition to their inherent mutagenic effects, TEs are also able to disrupt nearby genes by donating their intrinsic regulatory sequences, as for instance, promoting the ectopic expression of a cellular gene. TE transcription is therefore not on...

Transposable elements (TEs) are structural variants considered an important source of genetic diversity, which may arise in the transcriptome when TEs are transcribed in the same RNA molecule as genes, producing what we hereafter call chimeric transcripts. The presence of chimeric transcripts has been associated with adaptive traits in several spec...

Interspecific hybridization is often seen as a genomic stress that may lead to new gene expression patterns and deregulation of transposable elements (TEs). The understanding of expression changes in hybrids compared to parental species is essential to disentangle their putative role in speciation processes. However, to date we ignore the detailed...

Transposable elements (TEs) are parasite DNA sequences that are able to move and multiply along the chromosomes of all genomes. They can be controlled by the host through the targeting of silencing epigenetic marks, which may affect the chromatin structure of neighboring sequences, including genes. In this study, we used transcriptomic and epigenom...

Interspecific hybridization may lead to sterility and/or inviability through differential expression of genes and transposable elements (TEs). In Drosophila, studies have reported massive TE mobilization in hybrids from interspecific crosses of species presenting high divergence times. However, few studies have examined the consequences of TE mobil...

Adaptation to rapid environmental changes must occur within a short time scale. In this context, studies of invasive species may provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of rapid adaptation as these species have repeatedly encountered and adapted to novel environmental conditions. We investigated how invasive and non-invasive genotypes of Dr...

Transposable elements (TEs) are genomic parasites, which activity is tightly controlled in germline cells. Using Sindbis virus, it was recently demonstrated that viral infections affect TE transcript amounts in somatic tissues. However, the strongest evolutionary impacts are expected in gonads, because that is where the genomes of the next generati...

Transposable Elements (TEs) are ubiquitous and mobile repeated sequences. They are major determinants of host fitness. Here, we characterized the TE content of the spotted wing fly Drosophila suzukii. Using a recently improved genome assembly, we reconstructed TE sequences de novo, and found that TEs occupy 47% of the genome and are mostly located...

Transposable Elements (TEs) are ubiquitous and mobile repeated sequences. They are major determinants of host fitness. Here, we portrayed the TE content of the spotted wing fly Drosophila suzukii . Using a recently improved genome assembly, we reconstructed TE sequences de novo , and found that TEs occupy 47% of the genome and are mostly located in...

Background Adaptation to rapid environmental changes must occur within a short time scale. In this context, studies of invasive species may provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of rapid adaptation as these species have repeatedly encountered and successfully adapted to novel environmental conditions. Here we investigated how invasive and...

Transposable elements (TEs) are the main components of genomes. However, due to their repetitive nature, they are very difficult to study using data obtained with short-read sequencing technologies. Here, we describe an efficient pipeline to accurately recover TE insertion (TEI) sites and sequences from long reads obtained by Oxford Nanopore Techno...

Drosophila has been studied as a biological model for many years and many discoveries in biology rely on this species. Research on transposable elements (TEs) is not an exception. Drosophila has contributed significantly to our knowledge on the mechanisms of transposition and their regulation, but above all, it was one of the first organisms on whi...

Transposable elements (TEs) are genomic parasites that are found in all genomes, some of which display sequence similarity to certain viruses. In insects, TEs are controlled by the Piwi-interacting small interfering RNA (piRNA) pathway in gonads, while the small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway is dedicated to TE somatic control and defense against...

All genomes contain repeated sequences that are known as transposable elements (TEs). Among these are endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), which are sequences similar to retroviruses and are transmitted across generations from parent to progeny. These sequences are controlled in genomes through epigenetic mechanisms. At the center of the epigenetic cont...

Phenotypic variance is attributed to genetic and non-genetic factors, and only the former are presumed to be inherited and thus suitable for the action of selection. Although increasing amounts of data suggest that non-genetic variability may be inherited, we have limited empirical data in animals. Here, we performed an artificial selection experim...

Transposable elements (TEs) are parasitic DNA sequences that threaten genome integrity by replicative transposition in host gonads. The Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) pathway is assumed to maintain Drosophila genome homeostasis by downregulating transcriptional and post-transcriptional TE expression in the ovary. However, the bursts of transpositio...

Transposable elements (TEs) are sequences that can move and multiply along the chromosomes. Considered for a long time as genomic parasites, they are now acknowledged as key players of genome function and evolution. Accordingly, the presence of TEs in a genome may affect the chromatin structure of the regions in which they are inserted. TEs allow u...

Over recent decades, substantial efforts have been made to understand the interactions between host genomes and transposable elements (TEs). The impact of TEs on the regulation of host genes is well known, with TEs acting as platforms of regulatory sequences. Nevertheless, due to their repetitive nature it is considerably hard to integrate TE analy...

Endogenous retroviruses are relics of ancient infections from retroviruses that managed to integrate into the genome of germline cells and remained vertically transmitted from parent to progeny. Subsequent to the endogenization process, these sequences can move and multiply in the host genome, which can have deleterious consequences and disturb gen...

piRNAs (piwi-interacting RNAs) are a class of small interfering RNAs that play a major role in the regulation of transposable elements (TEs) in Drosophila and are considered of fundamental importance in gonadal development. Genes encoding the effectors of the piRNA machinery are thus often though to be highly constrained. On the contrary, as actors...

Transposable elements (TEs), whose propagation can result in severe damage to the host genome, are silenced in the animal gonad by Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). piRNAs produced in the ovaries are deposited in the embryonic germline and initiate TE repression in the germline progeny. Whether the maternally transmitted piRNAs play a role in the sil...

Genes are important in defining genetic variability, but they do not constitute the largest component of genomes, which in most organisms contain large amounts of various repeated sequences including transposable elements (TEs), which have been shown to account for most of the genome size. TEs contribute to genetic diversity by their mutational pot...

Endogenous retroviruses have the ability to become permanently integrated into the genomes of their host, and they are generally transmitted vertically from parent to progeny. With the exception of gypsy, few endogenous retroviruses have been identified in insects. In this study, we describe the tirant endogenous retrovirus in a subset of Drosophil...

Evolvability can be defined as the capacity of an individual to evolve and thus to capture adaptive mutations. Transpos- able elements (TE) are an important source of mutations in organisms. Their capacity to transpose within a genome, sometimes at a high rate, and their copy number regulation are environment-sensitive, as are the epigenetic pathwa...

Retroposed genes (retrogenes) originate via the reverse transcription of mature messenger RNAs from parental source genes and are therefore usually devoid of introns. Here, we characterize a particular set of mammalian retrogenes that acquired introns upon their emergence and thus represent rare cases of intron gain in mammals. We find that althoug...

All genomes contain, to agreater or lesser extent, sequences that do not seem to be beneficial. The most preeminent group consists of transposable elements (TEs). These repeated DNA sequences have asignificant influence on genome dynamics and evolution. One of the main challenges facing modern molecular evolution is to understand and measure their...

All genomes contain, to a greater or lesser extent, sequences that do not seem to be beneficial. The most preeminent group consists of transposable elements (TEs). These repeated DNA sequences have a significant influence on genome dynamics and evolution. One of the main challenges facing modern molecular evolution is to understand and measure thei...

Combining genome sequence analysis and functional analysis, we show that some full-length copies of tirant are present in heterochromatic regions in Drosophila simulans and that when tested in vitro, these copies have a functional promoter. However, when inserted in heterochromatic regions, tirant copies are inactive in vivo, and only transcription...

It has now been established that transposable elements (TEs) make up a variable, but significant proportion of the genomes of all organisms, from Bacteria to Vertebrates. However, in addition to their quantitative importance, there is increasing evidence that TEs also play a functional role within the genome. In particular, TE regulatory regions ca...

Tirant, a LTR retrotransposon with copies scattered over the chromosome arms of Drosophila melanogaster, is in the process of being lost from the chromosome arms of most natural populations of the sister species D. simulans. In an attempt to clarify the dynamics and evolution of tirant, we have studied the regulatory and reverse transcriptase regio...

Tirant is a long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposon with an average of 11 insertion sites on the chromosome arms of Drosophila melanogaster flies collected from natural populations worldwide. In the sibling species Drosophila simulans, tirant is found only in African populations, which harbor a few insertion sites (1 to 5) on the chromosome arms...