A new popular science article, written by CIGENE’s Simen Sandve and Helle Baalsrud, was published on the Norwegian science communication website Forskning.no last week.
The article, titled “Some genes can ‘jump’ but what does this mean?” discusses the concept of transposable elements in DNA that can move location – or ‘jump around’ – in a genome, and thereby have consequences on gene function and cell behaviour.
This phenomenon is explained in the context of two very different animals; the snowy owl, and salmonids (e.g. Atlantic salmon). Both species contain a high proportion of transposable elements in their genomes, and this is thought to have played a key role in their evolution.
You can read the article in full on Forskersonen.no (a member of the Forskning.no family). The article is currently only available in Norwegian.