Biology 2581B Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Reverse Transcriptase, Transposable Element, Retrotransposon
18 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
Jumping genes that exist in many organisms like mammals, insects, plants, etc. There are two different major classes: retrotransposons retroposons. Transpose via reverse transcription of an rna intermediate: transposons. Transpose dna directly without an rna intermediate. Many different types that can range in length from 50 bp to 10kb in length. Different copy numbers: one to 100 thousands. Around 45% of our genome can be linked to something that has do with transposable elements. They"re part of groups called ltrs - long terminal repeats. There are different types between these groups - difference in size. They have a huge contribution to the evolution of genomes and they can account for a lot of genome sizes and architecture. They can impact gene expression: eg. If it jumps into an intron or an exon then it can have severe consequences copia from drosophila. Use them for in situ hybridization which is just a variation of a southern blot.
