jumping genes
CulturalExample Sentences
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Some are nicknamed jumping genes because they literally jump around, copying and pasting themselves into different parts of our genome just as if they were still viral invaders.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025
So-called jumping genes use the same enzymes to move their genetic sequences within their genome, but it wasn’t clear what role the generated DNA strands play in the infected cells.
From Science Magazine • May 29, 2024
TEs are also called "jumping genes" because they can copy and paste themselves into new locations in our DNA.
From Science Daily • Oct. 2, 2023
Dr. Wei studies transposable elements, often called “selfish” or jumping genes for their abilities to make copies of themselves and insert them back into the genome.
From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2021
The geneticist Barbara McClintock discovered genetic elements that can move around within the genome—so-called jumping genes; she would win the Nobel Prize in 1983.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
