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22 February 2022

Constitutive Heterochromatin in Eukaryotic Genomes: A Mine of Transposable Elements

and
1
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185 Roma, Italy
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Cells2022, 11(5), 761;https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11050761
This article belongs to the Special Issue Transposable Elements: The Impact on the Structural and Functional Organization of the Genome
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Abstract

Transposable elements (TEs) are abundant components of constitutive heterochromatin of the most diverse evolutionarily distant organisms. TEs enrichment in constitutive heterochromatin was originally described in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, but it is now considered as a general feature of this peculiar portion of the genomes. The phenomenon of TE enrichment in constitutive heterochromatin has been proposed to be the consequence of a progressive accumulation of transposable elements caused by both reduced recombination and lack of functional genes in constitutive heterochromatin. However, this view does not take into account classical genetics studies and most recent evidence derived by genomic analyses of heterochromatin in Drosophila and other species. In particular, the lack of functional genes does not seem to be any more a general feature of heterochromatin. Sequencing and annotation of Drosophila melanogaster constitutive heterochromatin have shown that this peculiar genomic compartment contains hundreds of transcriptionally active genes, generally larger in size than that of euchromatic ones. Together, these genes occupy a significant fraction of the genomic territory of heterochromatin. Moreover, transposable elements have been suggested to drive the formation of heterochromatin by recruiting HP1 and repressive chromatin marks. In addition, there are several pieces of evidence that transposable elements accumulation in the heterochromatin might be important for centromere and telomere structure. Thus, there may be more complexity to the relationship between transposable elements and constitutive heterochromatin, in that different forces could drive the dynamic of this phenomenon. Among those forces, preferential transposition may be an important factor. In this article, we present an overview of experimental findings showing cases of transposon enrichment into the heterochromatin and their positive evolutionary interactions with an impact to host genomes.

1. Eukaryotic Transposable Elements: A Great Resource of Genome Evolution

Transposable elements (TEs) represent a significant fraction of the eukaryotic genomes, and this fraction is often referred to as the “mobilome” [1]. The mobilome comprises autonomous and non-autonomous TEs, as well as sequences derived from ancestral mobile sequences. Initially regarded as “junk DNA” [2], their role in evolution [3], genome stability [4] and structure [5], and gene regulation [6,7] is now fully acknowledged. Furthermore, TEs have become powerful tools for transgene integration and mutagenesis [8,9]. They are also progressively acquiring credit as gene therapy vectors [10,11] and as sources of ectopic gene expression tools [12].
Eukaryotic TEs are classified on the basis of their structure and transposition mechanism into two main classes (Figure 1). Class I contains retrotransposons that move via RNA transposition intermediates, whereas Class II elements transpose either using a “cut and paste” strategy (Subclass I), via rolling-circle replication [13] or single strand excision followed by extrachromosomal replication [14]. Both classes are further divided into orders, superfamilies, and families in a very complex taxonomy frame that becomes more complex as new genomes are explored.
Figure 1. Classification of eukaryotic transposable elements according to Wicker et al. [15]. The structure and the coding potential are depicted for each of the superfamilies. Symbols are explained in the legend box.
In this review, we resume the current literature on the role of TE insertions connected to the structure and function of the heterochromatin compartment of the eukaryotic genomes.

3. Positive Interactions between Transposable Elements and Constitutive Heterochromatin in Different Host Genomes

Transposable Elements and Transcription of Heterochromatic Genes

As discussed in the previous section, the picture of constitutive heterochromatin as the silent part of the genomes should be profoundly reconsidered, at least in D. melanogaster [83,103]. Indeed, the role of transcripts stemming from heterochromatin is well-recognized in many organisms [103,104].
In D. melanogaster, TE copies are intimately associated with the heterochromatic genes’ body, both in the flanking and intronic regions [82,105,106]. The presence of large introns packed with structurally degenerate TEs represents a hallmark of D. melanogaster heterochromatic genes [107,108], especially those found in the Y chromosome, which are essential to male fertility [109,110].
Thus, it may be possible that during evolution, TE sequences became functionally integrated within the genes in heterochromatin, acting as regulatory elements that drive gene expression by recruiting specific epigenetic factors, such as HP1 protein.
Indeed, constitutive heterochromatin of D. melanogaster constitutes a relevant case study of epigenomic conflict. While heterochromatin contains genes that are expressed throughout the development and across tissues, it is tagged with repressive epigenetic marks, such as methylation of H3K9 and H4K20 [111], in addition to the transcriptional permissive histone modifications [83].
However, transcription of heterochromatic sequences is not limited to Drosophila species. Studies performed in the last decades are consolidating a new perspective of constitutive heterochromatin on the basis of its transcriptional plasticity. Heterochromatin transcription indeed plays a critical role in establishing heterochromatin de novo in the daughter cell after mitosis completion [104], as well as during early embryo development in mammals [112]. Although specific studies are currently lacking, it is conceivable that heterochromatic TE copies can also play a significant role in the transcriptional regulation of heterochromatin.

4. TE Exaptation in a Heterochromatin-Related Context

Exaptation [113] is an evolutionary phenomenon that co-opts genetic entities to new functions that aid the host genome’s performance. This shifting in traits’ function frequently involves TEs [114], and in particular, several functions related to heterochromatin have evolved from TEs.

4.1. Transposable Elements and Telomeres

Very special examples of TE domestication associated with neofunctionalization are the telomere maintenance in D. melanogaster, which has been extensively discussed [59,60,61]. The elongation mechanism relies entirely on the selective transposition of three L1-like TE families, Het-A, TART, and TAHRE [58], that avoid chromosome consumption at their ends (Table 1).
While this example seems to be limited to the species of the Drosophila genus, this recalls a theory on the telomere origin that suggests that group II introns (a class of bacterial mobile elements) could have originated the ancestral eukaryotic telomeres, allowing the formation of primitive t-loops [115], suggesting a TE-based origin of the telomeres.
TE enrichment in telomeric and sub-telomeric regions has been described in diverse species of fungi [116], vertebrates [117], insects, protozoa [118], and plants [119]. However, differently from the Drosophila telomeric TEs, there is no reported function for the presence of TEs in the telomeres of other species, suggesting an accumulation resulting from the absence of selective pressure at these loci.
Notably, members of the Athena clade of the Penelope-like retrotransposons identified in Rotifer (Bdelloidea) lack the endonuclease domain, contain short stretches of telomeric repeats at their 3′ end, and are preferentially oriented toward the telomere with their 5′ truncated end [62].

4.2. Transposable Elements and Centromeres

The centromere is the major locus buried in the constitutive heterochromatin. The hallmark of the centromeric DNA, virtually in all eukaryotic chromosomes, is the enrichment in satellite DNA, but very often centromeres are associated with a high frequency of TE insertions that built up the architecture of such complex chromosomal structures [120] (Table 1).
One of the well-known cases of TE exaptation connected to the centromere function is the CENP-B protein [63]. CENP-B is a widely conserved centromere-binding protein formerly found in mammals that also has homologues in non-mammalian species [121], including yeast [122]. The CENP-B protein localizes densely at the centromere of all human chromosomes but the Y chromosome, and it is involved in chromosome segregation [123] and also required for kinetochore nucleation [124]. It has been proposed that the CENP-B protein evolved from an ancestral pogo-like transposase [125,126] and that its recruitment occurred at least twice during evolution [121,127]. The evolutionary history of CENP-B is acknowledged as one of the most interesting cases of convergent TE domestication [121].
Whether TEs play a pivotal role in either establishing a functional centromere, evolving new centromeres from scratch, or generating new satellite DNAs are still unsolved questions.
The massive presence of TEs in the centromeric DNA of D. melanogaster was first highlighted using combined sequencing and chromosomal deletions analyses [128]. This study mapped the smallest DNA sequences sufficient for centromere function to a 420 kb region containing the AAGAG and AATAT satellites interspersed with “islands” of complex sequences, such as TEs. Further studies confirmed that Drosophila centromeres range between approximately 200 and 500 kb in size [129] and are highly enriched in tandem repeats [128,130]. Recently, Chang et al. [45], by mapping CENP-A on single chromatin fibers at high resolution, reported that the CENP-A primarily associates with islands of retroelements that are flanked by satellite DNA. In addition, they demonstrated that the G2/Jockey-3 retroelement is the most highly enriched sequence in CENP-A chromatin, and it is shared among all centromeres. Since this feature is somehow conserved in related species with divergent centromeric satellites, these results strongly suggest a conserved role of retroelements in centromere specification and function in Drosophila.
The massive occupancy of TEs in the centromeric and pericentromeric DNA regions of the chromosome is also a shared feature in other species. An 86% fraction of the 170–360 Kbp long Dictyostelium dyscoideum centromeric DNA is composed of LTR retrotransposons [46]. Nearly half of the centromeric sequences are represented by the DIRS element, which seems to be a centromere-specific element co-localizing with CENH3 and H3K9me3 [38].
Human centromeric and pericentromeric regions also appear to constitute “soft-landing” platforms for TEs insertions. Indeed, a recent investigation of TE insertions in 5675 genomes has revealed that the preferred insertion sites of LINE elements lay within centromeric DNA [131]. However, in some cases TEs insertions appear to be excluded from centromeric DNA regions in humans. The recent development of the long reads sequencing methods [132,133,134] allowed for the determination of the human chromosome 8 centromeric and pericentromeric DNA sequence [47]. The centromeric DNA of the human chromosome 8 consists of five major evolutionary layers, showing a peculiar mirror symmetry. Each layer consists of sequences showing progressively higher sequence similarity from the outermost to the innermost. With respect of this organization, TE insertions can be only found in the outermost layer, wherein they are interspersed with monomeric and divergent α-satellite [47]. While the same organization of the centromeric and pericentromeric regions has not been observed for other chromosomes (e.g., chromosome X), it could still suggest a functional role.
A possible explanation of the target preference and accumulation of TEs in the centromeric DNA comes from studies in fungi. In three species of the pathogenic basidiomycete Cryptococcus genus, the presence of full-length TEs is observed only in species with long centromeres and in which the RNAi process is active (i.e., C. neoformans, and C. deneoformans). By contrast, C. deutereogatti, which lacks the RNAi pathway, has short centromeres void of active TEs [48]. Since a similar relationship between the presence of RNAi and centromere length exists in species of other pathogenic basidiomycetes [48] it has been suggested that the loss of RNAi could increase recombination between transposons and promote loss of full-length elements.
The amplification of pre-existing TE copies in the constitutive heterochromatin may also have contributed to the birth of pericentromeric repeats.
In the plant Aegilops speltoides, the 250 bp centromeric satellite shares high similarity to portions of a Ty3/gypsy-like retrotransposons [49]. TEs homologous to centromeric repeats have also been identified in other plant species, such as the Atenspm element in A. thaliana [50] and ATCOPIA93 in A. lyrata [51], as well as in animals such as the pDv element in D. virilis [52], and in cetaceans [53].
The compact organization of the centromere 8 in rice variety Nipponbare, which contains 65 Kbp of repeats [135], and the availability of sequencing data from multiple rice varieties [136] offered the opportunity to investigate centromeric transposons and their role in centromere evolution [54]. These studies revealed the role of TEs in both the structure and the rapid diversification of the Cen8 sequences between the cultivated rice species.
The ability of TEs to form tandem repeats is well documented in Drosophila, with at least two well-studied examples involving Class II TEs. The first example concerns tandem repeats of the P-element, which are frequently generated during genetic screens in D. melanogaster [137] and naturally found in D. guanche [138]. It has been demonstrated that P-element tandem repeats are formed by double insertion at the same site [57]. The second example concerns the Bari1 element, which is arranged as a regular tandem repeat in the heterochromatin [139]. Rolling circle replication, after circularization of an excised element, has been proposed as a possible mechanism to explain this arrangement [56]. This mechanism explains the origin of the two evolutionarily fixed Bari1 clusters in the deep heterochromatin of D. melanogaster, mapping on the second and the X chromosomes correspondingly [55,57].
In this context, it has been suggested that satellite DNA can be generated from transposons following different routes. One is the accumulation of TEs that can be detected as long stretches of DNA sequences similar to TEs. The observed sequence similarity between some TEs and satellite DNA in several species is indeed one of the main observations that has led to the intriguing hypothesis that satellite DNA may have derived from TEs. This suggestion is supported by observations in Drosophila [52] and humans [140]. Alternatively, satellite DNA can be formed from internal repeats residing into the TE itself. Tandem repetitions can be found in all types of TEs [141], which can virtually generate satellite DNA.

4.3. Additional Examples of TE Exaptation in Constitutive Heterochromatin

In the ciliate Paramecium species, the domesticated PiggyBac transposase PiggyMac (Pgm) protein [64,65] and the Pgm-like proteins [66] are involved in the programmed elimination of thousands DNA sequences that are at the basis of the macronucleus origin.
In Arabidopsis, genetic loss of two genes MAIL1 and MAIN result in impaired condensation of pericentromeric heterochromatin and upregulation of TE transcription, suggesting a transcriptional repression role. The proteins encoded by MAIL1 and MAIN appear to be derived from a subset of Ty3/gypsy retrotransposons found in angiosperms [67].
An additional role of TEs in the heterochromatin appears to be related to the embryo development. In a recent study, the upstream region of retrotransposons belonging to few active families was identified as the nucleation sites of heterochromatin formation during early stages of embryo development in the fly [142,143], and similar observations have been made in mammals [144].

5. Potential Implications of TE Heterochromatic Copies in Diseases and Aging

Being habitual residents of heterochromatin, TEs are obviously linked to human diseases related to heterochromatin defects, since loosening in heterochromatin compaction can cause the de-repression of TEs, thus leading to deleterious physiological changes such as aging, cancer, and neurological disorders. Although it is difficult to establish the direct link between heterochromatic TE copies and the disease itself, some recent papers suggest that this could be the case.
It is well established that the conformation of the chromatin in the interphase nucleus has a physiological relevance to cell life. In this view, any perturbation of the chromatin organization in the 3D nucleus can contribute to cell response to environmental stress or to the onset of diseases.
Laminopathies are heterogeneous diseases caused by dysfunction of the LAMIN proteins that ensure the correct anchoring of heterochromatin to the nuclear periphery [145].
Heterochromatin relaxation and TE de-repression have been related to the onset of ALS [146] and tauopathies [147]. Although the role of TE is not clear in the latter, HERVKs appear to be activated by heterochromatin loosening, which causes neuronal death [148].
In a Drosophila tauopathy model, Tau dysregulates TEs resident in the heterochromatin, reinforcing the above-described observation in mammals [148].
Additionally, chromatin undergoes global chromatin compaction upon activation of cell motility in several cell types of cancer metastasis [149].
Similarly, an aging-dependent loss of heterochromatin induces a dysregulation of TEs that can in turn produce genome instability and activation of inflammatory responses [150].
Although more experimental evidence is needed, there is a clear connection between the role of heterochromatic copies of TEs and the onset of pathological phenotypes.

6. Conclusions

About 80 years have passed since Barbara McClintock published her results on the controlling elements in maize, which were considered very controversial at that time by the scientific community.
Today, in the post-genomic era, due to the huge amount of genome sequences, transposable elements are still arousing a large amount of interest in the field of genome evolution. In particular, transposable elements are no longer considered only a mere example of genomic parasites, but it is widely recognized that they have colonized all eukaryotic genomes and represent a major force driving the evolution of organisms.
The development of new genome sequencing methods and annotation protocols could enforce this vision, opening the possibility of comparing constitutive heterochromatin in thousands of eukaryotic organisms. Such studies are needed to shed light on the dynamics of TE accumulation in the heterochromatin and to resolve the role of TEs in the determination of one of the most elusive chromosome structures, i.e., the centromere. Large-scale comparative analysis will also help determine the impact of TEs on heterochromatic gene expression and to disentangle the complex evolutionary trajectories that lead to TE exaptation and domestication. Since many of these issues are (or they will be) related to human health/diseases, the role of TEs in the constitutive heterochromatin is likely to be even more substantial than we may now imagine, and a multiplicity of their roles and impact on cellular functions and genome evolution will come to light.

Author Contributions

Writing—original draft preparation, R.M.M. and P.D.; writing—review and editing, R.M.M. and P.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from University of Bari, Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo #00869718Ricat (RMM), and Sapienza University of Rome, Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo # RM120172B851A176 (P.D.).

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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