Dynamics of transposable elements generates structure and symmetries in genetic sequences

TL;DR

This paper explores how the dynamics of transposable elements influence the structure and symmetries in genetic sequences, revealing a metastable regime that mirrors real genomes.

Contribution

It introduces a biologically motivated dynamic model explaining the emergence of symmetry and structure in DNA sequences.

Findings

Sequences exhibit symmetry and structure similar to real genomes.

A metastable regime with intertwined symmetry and structure is identified.

The model explains the origin of observed genomic features.

Abstract

Genetic sequences are known to possess non-trivial composition together with symmetries in the frequencies of their components. Recently, it has been shown that symmetry and structure are hierarchically intertwined in DNA, suggesting a common origin for both features. However, the mechanism leading to this relationship is unknown. Here we investigate a biologically motivated dynamics for the evolution of genetic sequences. We show that a metastable (long-lived) regime emerges in which sequences have symmetry and structure interlaced in a way that matches that of extant genomes.