Widespread occurrence of power-law distributions in inter-repeat distances shaped by genome dynamics

► We study the genomic distribution of transposable elements (TEs). ► We find the distribution to be a power-law across multiple species and TE classes. ► We implement an evolutionary model to explain the observed distribution ► The model includes genomic length increase and random TE deletions. ► We suggest that TE power-laws contribute to the “fractal globule” genome structure.