Epigenetic regulation of transposable elements in the plant kingdom

Transposable elements are short strands of repetitive DNA that can self-replicate and translocate within genomes of plants, animals, and prokaryotes, and they are generally perceived as parasitic in nature. Their transcription can lead to the production of dsRNAs, which resemble retrovirus transcripts. While most host cellular RNA has a singular, unpaired sense strand, dsRNA possesses sense and anti-sense transcripts paired together, and this difference in structure allows a host organism to detect dsRNA production, and thereby the presence of transposons. Plants lack distinct divisions between somatic cells and reproductive cells, and also have, generally, larger genomes than animals and prokaryotes, making plants an intriguing case-study for better understanding the epigenetic regulation and function of transposable elements.

This keyword could refer to multiple things. Here are some suggestions: