The application of a reverse transcriptase inhibitor suppresses LTR retrotransposon mobilization in plants [ALE-seq]

Recently developed methods applied to plant material, for example tissue culture during plant transformation, can induce genome instability by activating uncontrolled mobilization of LTR retrotransposons (LTR-TEs), the most abundant class of mobile genetic elements in plant genomes. Here we tested the use of Reverse Transcriptase inhibitors to avoid LTR-TE mobilization in plants. We demonstrated that the application of the drug Tenofovir in systems with high LTR-TE activity, like Arabidopsis and rice, allows generation of plants free from LTR-TE insertions without interfering with their development. We propose the use of Tenofovir as a new tool to both study LTR-TE transposition and to regenerate more genetically stable plant lines from tissue culture. Mobilome profile sequenced with ALEseq (DOI:10.1038/s41477-018-0320-9) of rice (Oryza sativa cv. Nipponbare) calli in presence and absence of Tenofovir, with leaves tissue used as control