LTR retrotransposons are the dominant repetitive component of plant genome landscape, often constituting more than three quarters of large plant genomes, as is the case in maize and wheat. In regular chromosomes with monocentric architecture, LTR retrotransposons accumulate in pericentromeric heterochromatin, where low recombination rate slows down their removal. However, these pericentromeric regions are typically not present on holocentric chromosomes, which do not possess a single centromere but rather multiple smaller centromeric units distributed along the entire chromosome length. In this project, I explored how this fundamental shift of chromosomal architecture shapes the LTR retrotransposon content and dynamics across plant genomes. We studied the LTR retrotransposon insertion and removal rates in chromosome-level assemblies of 37 holocentric flowering plants and 31 monocentric relatives, representing four evolutionary events of independent transition to holocentricity. We found that while the overall LTR retrotransposon content is independent of the centromere architecture and increases with larger chromosome size, the LTR retrotransposons in holocentrics display a faster turnover with more recent retrotransposon insertions. This elevated LTR retrotransposon turnover rate could further accelerate evolutionary changes, since frequent retrotransposon insertions and recombination between paralogous copies can disrupt regulatory sequences and facilitate chromosomal rearrangements.
Marie joined the Makova Lab as a postdoctoral researcher after completing her PhD at the Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where her work in evolutionary genomics focused on repeatome dynamics and centromere evolution in holocentric plants. She also worked on cultivated meat, pathogen surveillance, and the development of antifibrotic hydrogels.