PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Agnès Baud AU - Mariène Wan AU - Danielle Nouaud AU - Nicolas Francillonne AU - Dominique Anxolabéhère AU - Hadi Quesneville TI - Traces of transposable elements in genome dark matter co-opted by flowering gene regulation networks AID - 10.1101/547877 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 547877 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/17/547877.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/17/547877.full AB - Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile, repetitive DNA sequences that make the largest contribution to genome bulk. They thus contribute to the so-called “dark matter of the genome”, the part of the genome in which nothing is immediately recognizable as biologically functional.We developed a new method, based on k-mers, to identify degenerate TE sequences. With this new algorithm, we detect up to 10% of the A. thaliana genome as derived from as yet unidentified TEs, bringing the proportion of the genome known to be derived from TEs up to 50%. A significant proportion of these sequences overlapped conserved non-coding sequences identified in crucifers and rosids, and transcription factor binding sites. They are overrepresented in some gene regulation networks, such as the flowering gene network, suggesting a functional role for these sequences that have been conserved for more than 100 million years, since the spread of flowering plants in the Cretaceous.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.