Digest: Does the insertion preferences of transposable elements represent a strategy for the mitigation of genetic conflicts with the host?

Transposable elements can exhibit a predilection for specific insertion regions. In a recent study, Munasinghe et al. (2023) considers how variation in where TE families prefer to insert within the genome influences their copy number evolution. The study emphasizes how a preference for neutral insertion sites is only advantageous in conjunction with host restriction mechanisms, which suggests that insertion preference may be a strategy to mitigate genetic conflicts with the host.