Compare and contrast the two types of transposable elements found in bacteria. Provide examples of how transposable elements can be both harmful and beneficial to bacteria
What will be an ideal response?
Bacterial genomes contain two categories of transposable elements: insertion sequence (IS) elements and transposons.
IS elements are simple transposable elements that contain only the sequences and genes necessary for autonomous transposition. Bacterial IS elements encode transposase and are flanked by inverted repeat sequences unique to each insertion sequence.
Transposons, on the other hand, can carry multiple genes and confer new traits on the bacteria that contain them.
The process of transposition is a mutational event that can inactivate or alter normal gene expression. Both types of transposable elements can produce mutations if they are inserted into a wild-type gene. These mutations are often harmful if they disrupt the function of a normal gene. Conservative and simple bacterial transposons may be beneficial to the cell in that they often carry the gene for transposase and genes for antibiotic or heavy metal resistance.
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Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).