Transposons as Molecular Biology Tools
Transposons can be used to facilitate cloning of genes, identify regulatory elements, and produce transgenic organisms. For example, transposon tagging involves inducing transposition of a TE, allowing for disruption of a gene that generates an organism with a mutant phenotype, and is followed by molecular techniques that allow for the identification of the gene. A variation of transposon tagging (enhancer trapping) uses P elements to identify DNA sequences that regulate the expression of genes. P elements can also be used to incorporate foreign genes into fruit flies (transgenics). In addition, transposon fossils have been useful for the isolation of species-specific DNA from complex sources such as using inter-Alu PCR for the isolation of human genomic DNA sequences.
SEE ALSO DNA LIBRARIES; EVOLUTION OF GENES; IMPRINTING; MCCLINTOCK, BARBARA; REPETITIVE DNA ELEMENTS; RETROVIRUS; REVERSE TRANSCRIPTASE; YEAST.
David H. Kass
and Mark A. Batzer
Bibliography
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