Starship Discovery: A Collaborative Approach to Uncover Massive Transposable Elements
摘要
The ability to generate high-quality fungal genomes brought with it new frontiers of scientific discovery and paved the way for answering outstanding biological mysteries. Recently, several independent observations of large mobile elements within fungal genomes were recognized as manifestations of the same phenomenon: a newly discovered superfamily of mobile elements called Starships. In the hopes of inspiring further insight and encouraging other breakthroughs, we detail how individual stories of genomic exploration coalesced into the discovery of a previously hidden mechanism of fungal evolution. We end by describing important aspects of Starship biology and detail exciting perspectives on where we see the Starships taking the field of fungal biology in the future.