MITEs, miniature elements with a major role in plant genome evolution

Miniature Inverted-repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs) are a particular type of class II transposons found in genomes in high copy numbers. Most MITEs are deletion derivatives of class II transposons whose transposases have been shown to mobilize them by a typical cut-and-paste mechanism. However, unlike class II transposons, MITEs can amplify rapidly and dramatically and attain very high copy numbers, in particular, in plant genomes. This high copy number, together with their close association with genes, endows MITEs with a high potential to generate variability, and impact gene and genome evolution.