Decoding Horizontal Genetic Transfers and Their Role in Plant Evolution via a Comprehensive HTT Atlas

Horizontal transfer (HT) of transposable elements (TEs) drives genome evolution, yet its mechanisms and impacts in plants remain poorly understood. We perform a phylogenomic analysis across 558 high-quality plant genomes spanning 352 species, 221 genera and five phyla, from algae to angiosperms. We identify and annotate 180,274 TE families and 685,107 TE domain families, assess their phylogenetic distribution and sequence similarity, and detect 1,548 horizontal transposon transfer (HTT) events involving 684 TE families. Both RNA- and DNA-mediated HTTs are widespread.