Scientists identify two transposons that are active in human cells
Thursday, November 29, 2012 - 07:30
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org)—Transposable elements—or transposons—are DNA sequences that move in the genome from one location to another. Discovered in the 1940s, for years they were thought to be unimportant and were called "junk DNA." But now scientists recognize that these bits of DNA play vital roles in gene and genome evolution, and are important genetic tools for genome engineering.