Transposons (transposable elements or "jumping genes" are small pieces of DNA that encode enzymes that transpose the transposon, that is, move it from one DNA location to another, either on the same molecule of DNA or on a different molecule. A transposon contains a number of genes, coding for antibiotic resistance or other traits, flanked at both ends by insertion sequences coding for an enzyme called transpoase. Transpoase is the enzyme that catalyzes the cutting and resealing of the DNA during transposition. Thus, such transposons are able to cut themselves out of a bacterial chromosome or a plasmid and insert themselves into another chromosome or plasmid and contribute in the transmission of antibiotic resistance among a population of bacteria.

Flash animation iIllustrating Transposons.swf by Gary E. Kaiser, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology, The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville Campus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~gkaiser/index.html.

Last updated: August, 2018
Please send comments and inquiries to Dr. Gary Kaiser