Nonsense-mediated decay found to buffer transposable element-driven transcriptome innovation
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A preprint from Plowman et al., posted on bioRxiv on 24 October 2026, reports that nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) acts as a constraint on evolutionary innovation driven by transposable elements. Using long-read RNA sequencing after NMD inhibition, the authors assembled an NMD-extended transcriptome of roughly 217,000 transcripts, about 80% of which were previously unannotated. They show that NMD degrades transcripts in which transposable element sequences have been exonized and carry premature termination codons, thereby buffering the transcriptomic novelty that TE insertion would otherwise introduce. The work positions NMD as a quality-control layer shaping how much TE-driven variation survives to become functional innovation. The findings are a preprint and have not yet undergone peer review.
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- biorxiv.orgPickNonsense-mediated decay constrains transposable element-driven evolutionary innovation
Plowman et al. used long-read RNA sequencing to assemble an NMD-extended transcriptome after NMD inhibition (~217,000 transcripts, ~80% unannotated), showing that NMD degrades transposable element exonization transcripts containing premature termination codons and thereby buffers transposable element-driven transcriptomic innovation.
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