Transposable elements (TEs) play important roles in structural and functional diversification, genome enlargement, and speciation in plant genome. Their derivatives or small non-autonomous TEs play important roles in the alteration of homologous genes by epigenetic control or structural modification. The miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) is one of the representative non-autonomous class II TEs. MITEs include high copy members that are widely distributed and in close association with genic regions, which make MITEs useful targets and resources for in-depth understanding of genome evolution, as well as practical applications in molecular breeding. Here, we discuss the important features of MITEs, such as the identification tools of a novel MITE family, structural characterization, distribution pattern analysis, and impact on evolution in highly duplicated
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