Transposable Element Mechanisms

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About This MicroSim

Chapter 5: Genetic Variation and Genome Diversity

Library: p5.js

Type: Interactive animation sim-id: transposable-elements
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

An animated diagram showing the two major transposition mechanisms side by side. On the left, a DNA transposon (shown as a colored block with TIR arrows at each end) is excised by transposase (animated scissors), creating a gap at the donor site, and inserted at a target site. On the right, a retrotransposon is first transcribed to RNA (animated arrow from DNA to wavy RNA), then reverse-transcribed to cDNA (animated arrow from RNA to DNA), and the cDNA is inserted at a new target site while the original copy remains. A counter at the bottom tracks total TE copy number, incrementing only for the retrotransposon side. Users can click "Transpose" to animate each step. A toggle switches between LINE (autonomous, showing encoded reverse transcriptase) and SINE/Alu (non-autonomous, borrowing LINE machinery shown as a dotted arrow).