Resumen de Unravelling the role of transposable elements in the eukaryotic stress response
Environmental stress is a major aspect of life and a limiting factor for the survival and distribution of species. Understanding the organismal stress response and the developed coping mechanisms is indispensable in order to mitigate the negative effects of stress. A lot of studies focus on the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms, while transposable elements (TEs) which are also very powerful mutagens are largely overlooked. In this thesis, we studied the contribution of TEs to the eukaryotic stress response, first by using a molecular mechanism specific approach. By studying six different stress responses in humans and Drosophila melanogaster, we showed that TEs can regulate the expression of stress response genes by adding transcription factor binding sites. In the second part, we chose a stress specific approach, and described the transcriptomic and physiological basis of D. melanogaster desiccation tolerance. Moreover, we found that TEs might be involved in desiccation stress response but they do not seem to be the main mutations fuelling this stress response. Overall, we showed that transposable elements are relevant players in eukaryotic stress response, however their effect could be stress specific.
