TraitMech

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transposable element

traitmech:000092 · CLASS · REVIEWED

A genomics trait describing possession of transposable elements — such as insertion sequences and transposons — that move within the genome and drive genome rearrangement, gene inactivation, and plasticity.

Transposable elements drive DNA transposition and genome rearrangement

Evidence-backed causal sketch linking TE possession to DNA transposition activity and resulting genome rearrangement and plasticity.

Transposable elements drive DNA transposition and genome rearrangement Interactive directed graph showing evidence-backed causal relationships for transposable element.

Edge evidence

  • transposable element enables DNA transposition RO:0002327

    TEs encode transposases that catalyze transposition.

    • DOI:10.1111/1574-6976.12067 Siguier et al. review insertion-sequence transposase machinery and activity.
  • DNA transposition causes genome rearrangement biolink:causes

    Transposition events generate insertions and rearrangements.

    • DOI:10.1038/nrmicro1235 Frost et al. cite transposons among MGEs driving genome evolution.
  • transposable element has participant transposase

    The defining effector of a TE is a transposase required for movement.

    • DOI:10.1128/MMBR.00119-22 IS element encodes a single ORF, a DDE-family transposase required for movement (Harmer & Hall 2024).
  • transposase enables DNA transposition RO:0002327

    Transposase activity is causal for element movement/transposition.

    • DOI:10.1128/MMBR.00119-22 tnp26 encodes a transposase required for movement (Harmer & Hall 2024).
  • transposable element insertion causes target site duplication biolink:causes

    Element insertion typically generates short flanking target site duplications.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-39964-7 Insertion sequences typically create target site duplications (TSDs) upon insertion (Sheng et al. 2023).
  • transposable element insertion causes gene disruption biolink:causes

    Insertion into a coding region disrupts gene function.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-39964-7 Element movement causes gene disruption (Sheng et al. 2023).
  • homologous recombination between IS copies causes genome rearrangement biolink:causes

    Recombination between identical IS copies produces genome rearrangements.

    • DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-39964-7 Homologous recombination between identical IS copies can produce genome rearrangements (Sheng et al. 2023).

Provenance

Source
METPO (2025-11-25)
Definition source
DOI:10.1111/1574-6976.12067

Parent traits (1)

Synonyms (2)

  • insertion sequence RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1111/1574-6976.12067
  • transposon RELATED_SYNONYM · DOI:10.1111/1574-6976.12067

kg-microbe context

Matched 1 kg-microbe node via parent_proxy.

  • METPO:1000188 [-0.956, -1.962, -3.148, +1.274, …]

512-dim DeepWalkSkipGramEnsmallen embedding from kg-microbe (2026-04-25).

Nearest neighbors in embedding space

Top-8 cosine-similar METPO traits from the 2026-04-25 deepwalk (512-D).

Curation history

  1. · PROPOSED_FROM_RESEARCH · claude

    Proposed candidate GENOMICS trait (transposable element); sub-variant of mobile genetic element.

  2. · CURATED_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added evidence-backed causal graph (transposition / genome rearrangement) with GO node grounding and RO/biolink predicate groundings; promoted PROPOSED to REVIEWED.

  3. · ENRICH_CAUSAL_GRAPH · claude

    Added 5 evidence-backed generic edges (5 new nodes) from the deep-research report.

  4. · GROUND_CAUSAL_PREDICATES · claude

    Grounded 4 causal-edge predicate_id field(s) via mappings/predicate_grounding.tsv (biolink:causes×3, RO:0002327×1).

  5. · GROUND_CAUSAL_NODES · claude

    Grounded 1 causal-node grounding field(s) via mappings/node_grounding.tsv (UniProtKB:A0A023WVD3×1).