Selfish DNA Transfer Study

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selfish DNA elements

Phys Org

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Science

'Selfish' genes called introners proven to be a major source of genetic complexity

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University of California , Santa Cruz researchers have proven that a type of genetic element called "introners" are the cause of many of these selfish genes spreading within and between species.

Introners are a kind of transposable element, a "jumping gene" that can move from part of a genome to another, that have found a way to successfully make copies of introns throughout a genome.

They found evidence for eight instances in which introners have transferred between unrelated species.

An introner jumped from a sea sponge to a marine protist around 40 million years ago .

Researchers hypothesize that the introners could be hitching a ride on giant viruses in order to transfer between species.

The researchers believe there would be many more if they kept looking within the 8.74 million species of eukaryotes.

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