Jumping Genes

Lyudmila P. ZAKHARENKO

In the middle of the last century, Barbara McClintock, an American researcher, discovered amazing genes in corn that were able, on their own, to change their position on chromosomes. Today they are called “jumping genes”, or “transposable (mobile) elements”. This discovery was not recognized for a long time or was regarded at best as a unique phenomenon characteristic of corn alone. However, it was this discovery that brought McClintock the Nobel Prize of 1983 — today jumping genes are found in virtually all the animal and plant species.

So where do they spring from, these jack-in-the-box genes, what are they doing in the cell, and are they of any use? Why can a family of a fruit fly with genetically healthy parents produce mutant progeny because of these jumping genes or can even appear infertile? What is the role of jumping genes in the evolution?

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.