Ty5 is one of five  endogenous retrotransposons native to the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae, all of which target integration to gene poor regions. Endogenous retrotransposons are hypothesized to target gene poor chromosomal targets in order to reduce the chance of inactivating host genes. Ty1-Ty4 integrate upstream of Pol III promoters, while Ty5 targets integration to loci bound in heterochromatin. In the case of Ty5, this likely occurs by means of an interaction between the C-terminus of integrase and a target protein. The tight targeting patterns seen for the Ty elements are thought to be a means to limit damage to its host, which has a very gene dense genome. Ty5 was discovered in the mid 1990s in the laboratory of Daniel Voytas at Iowa State University. Ty5 is used as a model system by which to understand the biology of the telomere and heterochromatin. The Ty5 retrotransposon is used as a genetic model to study the architecture and dynamics of the telomeres and heterochromatin.