Irina Arkhipova

Senior Scientist

Irina Arkhipova Headshot
Contact Information
Education
BS/MS, Biochemistry, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1983
Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Moscow, 1986.
MBL Affiliation
Bay Paul Center
Research Area
Evolution
Genomics

Dr. Irina Arkhipova is a molecular evolutionary geneticist with a background in biochemistry and molecular biology. Her research deals with mobile DNA in its broader sense, including different types of transposable elements (TEs) that can move within and between genomes, their genomic impact, genetic and epigenetic regulation, evolutionary origins, and the mechanisms underlying their mobility. It is often driven by discoveries that were initially made in , but which are likely to have broader implications for eukaryotes in general. Her current research is focused on horizontally transferred genes, domesticated reverse transcriptases, and intron-containing retroelements. The overarching goal of her research is to obtain an integrated picture of mobile element structure, function and evolution, encompassing the widest spectrum of their interactions with host genomes, from deleterious to neutral to beneficial. She is a leading expert on transposable elements, which she studied since her undergraduate years, and has authored over 70 publications on this topic. She serves as an expert on national and international advisory panels, as an Associate Editor of Molecular Biology and Evolution, and as the Editor-in-Chief of Mobile DNA. She is one of the founding members of the Mobile Genetic Element Cluster at the MBL, and since 2007 has been organizing regional, national and international meetings on mobile genetic elements.

News and Research Highlights
Irina Arkhipova works with
no headshot
Senior Researcher
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Selected Publications

Rodriguez F., Yushenova IA, DiCorpo D., and Arkhipova I.R. (2021). Bacterial N4-methylcytosine as an epigenetic mark in eukaryotic DNA. 

Paul, B.G., Yushenova, I.A., and Arkhipova, I.R. (2021). The Diversity of Reverse Transcriptases. In: Retrotransposons; A. Gabriel, ed. World Scientific Publishing: Singapore (in press).

Craig R.J., Yushenova I.A., Rodriguez F., and Arkhipova I.R. (2021). An ancient clade of Penelope-like retroelements with permuted domains is present in early-branching plants and protists, and dominates many invertebrate genomes. Mol Biol Evol 38(11):5005-5020. 

Nowell R.W., Wilson C.G., Almeida P., Schiffer P.H., Fontaneto D., Becks L., Rodriguez F., Arkhipova I.R., and Barraclough T. (2021). Evolutionary dynamics of transposable elements in bdelloid rotifers. Elife 10:e63194. .

Schön I., Rodriguez F., Dunn M., Martens K., Shribak M., and Arkhipova I.R. (2021). A survey of transposon landscapes in the putative ancient asexual ostracod Darwinula stevensoni. Genes (Basel), 12(3):401. 

Vakhrusheva O.A., Mnatsakanova E.A., Galimov Y.R., Neretina T.V., Gerasimov E.S., Naumenko S.A., Ozerova S.G., Zalevsky A.O., Yushenova I.A., Rodriguez F., Arkhipova I.R., Penin A.A., Logacheva M.D., Bazykin G.A., and Kondrashov A.S. (2020). Genomic signatures of recombination in a natural population of the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga. Nat. Commun. 11(1):6421. 

Arkhipova I.R. (2020). Metagenome proteins and database contamination. mSphere 5:e00854-20. .

Funikov S.Y., Rezvykh A.P., Kulikova D.A., Zelentsova E.S., Protsenko L.A., Chuvakova L.N., Tyukmaeva V.I., Arkhipova I.R., and Evgen’ev M.B. (2020). Adaptation of gene loci to heterochromatin in the course of Drosophila evolution is associated with insulator proteins. Sci Rep 10(1):11893. 

Sharko F.S., Nedoluzhko A.V., Lê B.M., Tsygankova S.V., Boulygina E.S., Rastorguev S.M., Sokolov A.S., Rodriguez F., Mazur A.M., Polilov A.A., Benton R., Evgen'ev M.B., Arkhipova I.R., Prokhortchouk E.B., and Skryabin K.G. (2019). A partial genome assembly of the miniature parasitoid wasp, Megaphragma amalphitanum. PLoS One, 14(12): e0226485. 

Arkhipova, I.R., and Yushenova, I.A. (2019). Giant transposons in eukaryotes: is bigger better? Genome Biol. Evol., 11(3), 906-918. 

Yushenova I.A., and Arkhipova I.R. (2018). Biochemical properties of bacterial reverse transcriptase-related (rvt) gene products: multimerization, protein priming, and nucleotide preference. Curr. Genet. 64(6):1287-1301. 

Abrams J.M., Arkhipova I.R., Belfort M., Boeke, J.D., Curcio, M.J., Faulkner, G.J., Goodier, J.L., Lehmann, R., and Levin, H.L. (2018). Meeting report: mobile genetic elements and genome plasticity 2018. Mob. DNA 9:21. 

Arkhipova, I.R. (2018). Neutral theory, transposable elements, and eukaryotic genome evolution. Mol. Biol. Evol. 35(6): 1332-1337. 

Rodriguez, F., and Arkhipova, I.R. (2018). Transposable elements and polyploid evolution in animals. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev 49:115-123. 

Arkhipova I.R., Yushenova I.A., and Rodriguez F. (2017). Giant reverse transcriptase-encoding transposable elements at telomeres. Mol. Biol. Evol. 34(9):2245-57. 

Rodriguez F., Kenefick A.W., and Arkhipova I.R. (2017). LTR retrotransposons from bdelloid rotifers capture additional ORFs shared between highly diverse retroelement types. Viruses, 9(4): E78. 

Arkhipova, I.R. (2017). Using bioinformatic and phylogenetic approaches to classify transposable elements and understand their complex evolutionary histories. Mob. DNA 8:19. 

Arkhipova I.R., Rice P.A. (2016). Mobile Genetic Elements: In Silico, In Vitro, In Vivo. Mol. Ecol. 25(5):1027-31. .

Rodriguez F., and Arkhipova I.R. (2016). Multitasking of the piRNA silencing machinery: targeting transposable elements and foreign genes in the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga. Genetics 203(1):255-68.