transposable element
noun
: a segment of genetic material that is capable of changing its location in the genome or in some bacteria of undergoing transfer between an extrachromosomal plasmid and a chromosome
Examples of transposable element in a Sentence
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The fish make fewer functional copies of an RNA that helps shut down transposable element movement.
—
John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
To see if the California two-spot octopus and bobtail squid chromosomes with many transposable elements matched, the researchers compared the genetic content on the outlier chromosomes for the two species.
—Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 3 Sep. 2024
And the bobtail squid, which diverged from the California two-spot octopus between 350 million and 250 million years ago, had a chromosome that was an outlier in having more transposable elements than its other chromosomes—possibly the same Z chromosome as the octopus.
—Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 3 Sep. 2024
And a gene family that silences transposable elements appears to have far fewer members in the South American lungfish.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
In the case of the lungfish, most of the junk seems to be transposable elements; the South American species, which has twice the amount of DNA as its two relatives, also has twice the number of transposable elements.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
Could eukaryotes’ tendency toward expansion be linked to the transposable elements — the leaping, self-duplicating bits of DNA — that have infested eukaryotic genomes for eons?
—Quanta Magazine, 2 May 2024
STRs themselves may arise in several ways — for example, through errors in DNA replication or the activity of DNA segments called transposable elements that make copies of themselves throughout the genome.
—Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
Most of these mobile sequences, called transposable elements, have since lost their jumping abilities, tamed by evolution.
—Celia Ford, WIRED, 17 July 2023
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John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
To see if the California two-spot octopus and bobtail squid chromosomes with many transposable elements matched, the researchers compared the genetic content on the outlier chromosomes for the two species.
—Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 3 Sep. 2024
And the bobtail squid, which diverged from the California two-spot octopus between 350 million and 250 million years ago, had a chromosome that was an outlier in having more transposable elements than its other chromosomes—possibly the same Z chromosome as the octopus.
—Viviane Callier, Scientific American, 3 Sep. 2024
And a gene family that silences transposable elements appears to have far fewer members in the South American lungfish.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
In the case of the lungfish, most of the junk seems to be transposable elements; the South American species, which has twice the amount of DNA as its two relatives, also has twice the number of transposable elements.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 14 Aug. 2024
Could eukaryotes’ tendency toward expansion be linked to the transposable elements — the leaping, self-duplicating bits of DNA — that have infested eukaryotic genomes for eons?
—Quanta Magazine, 2 May 2024
STRs themselves may arise in several ways — for example, through errors in DNA replication or the activity of DNA segments called transposable elements that make copies of themselves throughout the genome.
—Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024
Most of these mobile sequences, called transposable elements, have since lost their jumping abilities, tamed by evolution.
—Celia Ford, WIRED, 17 July 2023
Cite this Entry
“Transposable element.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transposable%20element. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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