Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>Short interspersed nuclear elements (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s) are non‐autonomous non‐long terminal repeat retrotransposons which are widely distributed in eukaryotic organisms. While <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s have been intensively studied in animals, only limited information is available about plant <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s. We analysed 22 <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content> families from seven genomes of the Amaranthaceae family and identified 34 806 <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s, including 19 549 full‐length copies. With the focus on sugar beet (<jats:italic>Beta vulgaris</jats:italic>), we performed a comparative analysis of the diversity, genomic and chromosomal organization and the methylation of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s to provide a detailed insight into the evolution and age of Amaranthaceae <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s. The lengths of consensus sequences of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s range from 113 nucleotides (nt) up to 224 nt. The <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s show dispersed distribution on all chromosomes but were found with higher incidence in subterminal euchromatic chromosome regions. The methylation of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s is increased compared with their flanking regions, and the strongest effect is visible for cytosines in the <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">CHH</jats:styled-content> context, indicating an involvement of asymmetric methylation in the silencing of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">SINE</jats:styled-content>s.</jats:p>