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Module 6.1 · Topic 8
Module 6.1 · Topic 8
A once-random mutation source, now a precise laboratory tool
Genetics described transposons as a natural, essentially random source of mutation — a piece of DNA that relocates somewhere in the genome, with no say in exactly where. That same randomness turns out to be exactly what a certain kind of experiment needs.
A researcher wants to find which of a thousand unknown genes, when disrupted, causes a specific observable phenotype — with no prior guess about which gene is responsible. Would a tool that inserts randomly across the genome be useful here?
Transposon mutagenesis is particularly useful for identifying an unknown gene responsible for a phenotype because:
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