THE SECRET WORLD OF “JUMPING” DNA

Transposons are unusual segments of DNA that can affect genes and create new traits, helping to make every living thing special. Transposons have the amazing ability to move around within an organism’s DNA, and they can even travel between organisms! Transposons can be activated by stress, helping organisms to cope and adapt. Researchers are using transposons as special delivery systems to help cure diseases. Also, studying transposons can provide a lot of information on how the biodiversity of life on Earth has changed over millions of years. They can help each other in their journeys, practicing teamwork. The unique features of these “jumping” DNA segments even earned scientists a Nobel Prize for their discovery.

Šatovi ć-Vuk ši ć and Plohl own important role.For example, some organisms clean the air, some pollinate plants, and some recycle nutrients.Biodiversity helps the environment to stay balanced, and Earth's diverse lifeforms also provide us with food, medicine, and new technologies.Biodiversity can be influenced by many factors.Sometimes new species evolve, and sometimes species disappear.In this article, we will introduce you to transposons and the multiple ways they can TRANSPOSONS DNA segments that can move around within the genome.influence biodiversity.

WHAT ARE TRANSPOSONS?
As you may already know, DNA contains information important for the functioning of our bodies and the bodies of all other living things.Every DNA molecule is made of two strands wound together, each built out of chemicals called bases.The four bases are abbreviated A, G, C, and T (Figure ).All the DNA in an organism is called its genome.What  its original location (Figure ).Once the transposon is free, transposase helps guide it to the new location by recognizing specific sequences of DNA.Transposase also helps the transposon insert into the new site.The cell's repair machinery then seals the DNA where the transposon was inserted.In case of class I transposons, other proteins help make additional copies.
Transposons cooperate!Some transposons have all the tools needed to move from one place in the genome to another, while other transposons lack the full set of tools needed to move and cannot move on their own [ ].However, these transposons can "hitchhike" with the ones that have the right tools, borrowing their tools to move around the genome.True teamwork!

TRANSPOSONS AND BIODIVERSITY
So far, scientists have uncovered several important ways that transposons contribute to biodiversity.Each is explained below.

Architects of Diversity
Transposons can act as architects of the genome, moving genes to new locations or even joining segments from separate parts of the genome together.Moving and combining genes can change the instructions telling the organism how to function [ ]. Sometimes these changes can lead to new traits that make individuals di erent from each other, increasing biodiversity.For example, apples come in various flavors, right?Some are sweet and some are sour.The apple's genes are like little recipes telling it to be sweet or sour.Transposons are like sneaky chefs that can change the recipe-they might make a sweet apple taste sour or a sour apple taste sweeter.Sunflowers are another example.Sunflower genes tell the plant how tall it should grow.Transposons can jump into these instructions and change them, so that a sunflower that was supposed to be short might end up growing super tall!Transposons can also a ect an animal's coloration.

Adaptors and Protectors
When transposons move, they can jump within a gene.This changes the gene's functioning [ ].In some cases, these changes are harmful and cause diseases.In other cases, they can be beneficial and even make a species better adapted to its environment.The story of an insect called the peppered moth is a classic example [ ].In the early th century, all peppered moths were a light color with dark spots.However, in , a naturalist in England discovered a completely dark moth.This was quite interesting!During Industrial Revolution, the pollution from factories covered the trees with soot.Dark moths could camouflage on such trees, which reduced the risk that they would be seen and eaten (Figure A).Much later, scientists identified that a transposon was responsible for the dark coloration.It jumped inside a moth gene called cortex, which is responsible for wing color, causing more of the dark color to be produced (Figure A).Without this change, the peppered moths would not have survived.

Storytellers of the Past
Transposons can help us discover biodiversity that existed in the past, kind of like genetic fossils.Transposons have been around for a very long time.Some were active millions of years ago and have become inactive over time.However, they still remain in organisms' DNA, mostly as broken-down pieces.By studying the presence and types of transposons in the genomes of various organisms, scientists can use transposons to understand how species are related to each other-even extinct organisms found in museums.By studying ancient transposons, scientists can piece together the evolutionary history and relationships between species, like detectives following clues!This way, transposons reveal the story how life on Earth has transformed over millions of years.

Lifesaving Heroes
Transposons have also become useful tools in medical research.Scientists can change transposons in the lab and use them to deliver important genes to specific cells in the body.This can help treat certain genetic diseases by replacing or fixing faulty genes.These transposons

GENETIC DISEASES
Problems in genes which result in illness.act like a special delivery system that brings helpful instructions to the right place in the body.They can keep organisms healthy and even save lives!

Crisis Response Team
When organisms face stressful situations, like extreme temperatures, dangerous substances, or other challenges, they produce signals that help them cope with stress.These signals can wake up "sleeping" transposons, which then start jumping around the genome.
Transposon activation might be a way for the organism to change its genes in an attempt to adapt and survive [ ].For example, a stress-activated transposon is involved in the response of rice plants technique to study and identify di erent varieties of plants.Transposons can insert themselves at various spots in the plant's DNA so, over time, each plant accumulates its own set of transposon copies.This creates a unique pattern or "fingerprint".By comparing transposon fingerprints in the genomes of di erent plants, scientists can determine how closely related the plants are.Plants with similar transposon fingerprints are likely to be closely related, while those with very di erent fingerprints are more distantly related.In this way, transposons help scientists track biodiversity.

"Long-Distance" Travelers
Transposons can even travel between species!For example, a transposon from a plant could find its way into an animal, or the other way around, often carried by viruses or other means of transport.
Transposons carry their information to new organisms and make their way into their DNA-becoming a part of the new organism's genome [ ].By changing the genome of the organism they move to, transposons contribute to biodiversity.

Genome Boosters
Remember how class I transposons copy themselves?Well, the more this happens, the larger the organism's genome becomes.For example, an extreme boost in transposons in corn about million years ago doubled the size of its genome [ ].In the genome of a type of farmed wheat, % of the DNA is composed of transposons.The formation of many cultivated varieties of plants is related to transposon activity.

Safeguards
Transposons can sometimes serve as guardians of the genome, keeping it stable.One example is when transposons replace the normal sequences found at the ends of the DNA molecule, protecting them from shortening and degradation.This happens in the fruit fly, for instance (Figure C).By producing new transposon copies, DNA ends remain intact over time, which helps to ensure that important genetic information is not lost.If genetic information is lost, organisms may not survive and biodiversity is reduced. .doi: ./frym. .

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:
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Vuk ši ć and Plohl sometimes jump into these pattern genes and create a new pattern.The color of snake's skin can change in the same way.Transposons can also change the fur color of mice, dogs, and wolves.Insects can get di erent eye colors, and chickens can lay eggs with various shell colors.A similar thing can happen in fish-a transposon can cause a fish to become albino, completely colorless.
Think about the stripes or spots on tigers or leopards.Transposons can Šatovi ć-Vuk ši ć and Plohl to a toxic metal called cadmium.Rice plants have a gene responsible for getting cadmium inside their cells.A transposon inserted itself into that gene and disabled it.This reduced the amount of cadmium that the plants took up and helped them stay healthy (FigureB).How did this contribute to biodiversity?Now a new type of rice exists, protected from cadmium. kids.frontiersin.org Šatovi ć-Vuk ši ć and Plohl .Wallau, G. L., Vieira, C., and Loreto, É. L. S.. Genetic exchange in eukaryotes through horizontal transfer: Connected by the mobilome.Mob DNA.Gaut, B. S., Tikhonov, A., Nakajima, Y., and Bennetzen, J. L.. The paleontology of intergene retrotransposons of maize.Nat Genet.