How does transposition of a retrotransposon differ from that of a DNA transposon?
DNA transposons move in the genome by cut and paste mechanism. The original copy of transposons excised from one place and gets integrated at another place. There is no increase in copy number of transposons on each transposition event.
Retrotransposons move in the genome by copy and paste mechanism. one retrotransposon (DNA) makes an RNA copy then this RNA gets converted into DNA by the action of reverse transcriptase then DNA integrates at a new position in the genome. So unlike transposons they involve an RNA intermediate and their copy number increase with each transposition event.
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