Mobile genetic elements

[3] The set of MGEs in an organism is called a mobilome, which is composed of a large number of plasmids, transposons and viruses.

Using comparative genomic and phylogenetic analysis, researchers found that CRISPR-Cas variants are associated with distinct types of MGEs such as transposable elements.

One type of MGEs, namely the Integrative Conjugative Elements (ICEs) are central to horizontal gene transfer shaping the genomes of prokaryotes enabling rapid acquisition of novel adaptive traits.

More research should be conducted into how these elements may serve as a rapid adaptation tool employed by organisms to generate variability.

Some others researched examples include Mavericks,[38][39][40] Starships[41][40] and Space invaders (or SPINs)[42][43] The consequence of mobile genetic elements can alter the transcriptional patterns, which frequently leads to genetic disorders such as immune disorders, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

[45] Mobile genetic elements play a critical role in the spread of virulence factors, such as exotoxins and exoenzymes, among bacteria.

Strategies to combat certain bacterial infections by targeting these specific virulence factors and mobile genetic elements have been proposed.

DNA transposons, LTR retrotransposons, SINEs, and LINEs make up a majority of the human genome.
pBLU is a 5437bp vector plasmid. This vector contains the origin of replication sequence, the restriction enzyme cut site, lacZ gene, and an ampicillin resistance gene.
Examples of mobile genetic elements in the cell (left) and the ways they can be acquired (right)
Transposition of target sequence into recombination site in DNA by Transposase. Replication of the transposable sequence starts to occur when transposase cuts single strands on opposite sides of the dsDNA. The replication is completed in the transposon complex and excised to target sequence for recombination.
Retrotransposon mechanism that uses reverse transcriptase to change mRNA transposon back into DNA for integration.