Question: how does transposons genes actually work

Louise Johnson answered on 21 Jun 2010:

They can copy themselves from place to place in the cell in several different ways.

Some of them work in a similar way to viruses. Viruses use a cell’s own molecules to make loads of copies of themselves, and then they break the cell open and send new viruses into other cells. Some transposons do the same, except that instead of breaking the cell, they stick all the new copies back in to the cell’s own DNA. These ones are so much like viruses, it’s almost certain that they used to be viruses but they have lost the ability to break out of the cell. They’re like “flightless” viruses.

Other transposons make a molecule called transposase, which works like a pair of scissors to snip the transposon out of the cell’s DNA, leaving a hole. The cell then goes “OMG MY DNA IS BORKEN!!1″* and mends it by putting a new copy of the transposon in to fill the hole. The transposase then sticks the old copy back in somewhere else.

*I imagine single cells are about as clever as YouTube commenters