A hypothesis on the role of transposons

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel hypothesis that transposons play crucial roles in cellular differentiation and evolution, challenging the view of them as 'junk DNA', based on insights from an evo-devo computational method.

Contribution

It introduces a new hypothesis on the biological functions of transposons, supported by an evo-devo computational model that mimics biological development and evolution.

Findings

Transposition in somatic cells drives cellular differentiation.

Transposition in germ cells enhances evolutionary processes.

Transposable elements are vital for multicellular biological functions.

Abstract

"Epigenetic Tracking" is an evo-devo method to generate arbitrary 2d or 3d shapes; as such, it belongs to the field of "artificial embryology". In silico experiments have proved the effectiveness of the method in devo-evolving shapes of any kind and complexity (in terms of number of cells, number of colours, etc.), establishing its potential to generate the complexity typical of biological systems. Furthermore, it has also been shown how the underlying model of development is able to produce the artificial version of key biological phenomena such as embryogenesis, the presence of junk DNA, the phenomenon of ageing and the process of carcinogenesis. In this paper the evo-devo core of the method is explored and the result is a novel hypothesis on the biological role of genomic transposable elements, according to which transposition in somatic cells during development drives cellular differentiation and transposition in germ cells is an indispensable tool to boost evolution. Thus transposable elements, far from being "junk", have one of the most important roles in multicellular biology.