Publication Date
1-27-2026
Journal
Genome Biology
DOI
10.1186/s13059-025-03898-8
PMID
41593763
PMCID
PMC12924553
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
1-27-2026
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Abstract
Background
Transposable elements (TEs) are vital components of eukaryotic genomes and have played a critical role in genome evolution. Although most TEs are silenced in the mammalian genome, increasing evidence suggests that certain TEs are actively involved in gene regulation during early developmental stages. However, the extent to which human TEs drive gene transcription in adult tissues remains largely unexplored.
Results
In this study, we systematically analyze 17,329 human transcriptomes to investigate how TEs influence gene transcription across 47 adult tissues. Our findings reveal that TE-driven transcripts are broadly expressed in human tissues, contributing to both housekeeping functions and tissue-specific gene regulation. We identify sex-specific expression of TE-driven transcripts regulated by sex hormones in breast tissue between females and males. Our results suggest that TE-driven alternative transcription initiation significantly enhances the variety of translated protein products, e.g., changes in the N-terminal peptide length of WNT2B caused by TE-driven transcription result in isoform-specific subcellular localization. Additionally, we identify 68 human-specific TE-driven transcripts of genes, which are involved in distinct biological processes.
Conclusions
These findings indicate the regulatory role of TEs in human genome evolution and highlight their substantial contribution to the diversification of transcriptional and translational outputs.
Keywords
Humans, DNA Transposable Elements, Female, Organ Specificity, Transcriptome, Male, Gene Expression Regulation, Transcription, Genetic, Evolution, Molecular, Adult, Genome, Human, Gene Expression Profiling, Transposable elements, Human genome, Alternative transcription, Transcriptome diversity, Evolution
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Miao, Benpeng; Luo, Xinlong; Ademovic, Amina; et al., "Expression Spectrum of Te-Driven Transcripts in Human Adult Tissues" (2026). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 7179.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/7179