If transposons aren\’t always passed onto offspring in their chromosomes does this mean that different transposons

Question: If transposons aren\'t always passed onto offspring in their chromosomes does this mean that different transposons are present in a population at any time? Is this how transposons work into respect to evolution?

Asked by maisie to Louise on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: Your Research.
- Louise Johnson answered on 22 Jun 2010:
  
  Yes, because transposons don’t stay still, and aren’t passed on in predictable ways like normal genes, different individuals (plants, flies, people, whatever) will contain different numbers of transposons.
  
  And that is one of the most important ways transposons contribute to evolution, by increasing variation. Most of the time they don’t do anything, and sometimes they might cause a change for the worse, but sometimes they might cause a change that is an improvement.
  
  (I wish there was an accessible book about transposons I could recommend to you, but all the ones I’ve seen are very technical. Maybe I’ll have to write one myself!)

maisie commented on 22 Jun 2010:

Thanks! 🙂 big help- really helpful to see how it all ties in with the big picture! …Maybe you should 🙂 that would be great, it seems really interesting.

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Question: If transposons aren\'t always passed onto offspring in their chromosomes does this mean that different transposons are present in a population at any time? Is this how transposons work into respect to evolution?