摘要MITEs (Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements) are reminiscence of non-autonomous DNA (class Ⅱ) elements, which are distinguished from other transpos-able elements by their small size, short terminal inverted repeats (TIRs), high copynumbers, genic preference, and DNA sequence identity among family members. Al-though MITEs were first discovered in plants and still actively reshaping genomes,they have been isolated from a wide range of eukaryotic organisms. MITEs canbe divided into Tourist-like, Stowaway-like, and pogo-like groups, according tosimilarities of their TIRs and TSDs (target site duplications). In despite of sev-eral models to explain the origin and amplification of MITEs, their mechanisms oftransposition and accumulation in eukaryotic genomes remain poorly understoodowing to insufficient experimental data. The unique properties of MITEs have beenexploited as useful genetic tools for plant genome analysis. Utilization of MITEsas effective and informative genomic markers and potential application of MITEsin plants systematic, phylogenetic, and genetic studies are discussed.