Question

Gene capable of moving from one chromosome to another is:
(A) Cosmid
(B) Transposon
(C) Exonic gene
(D) Mutated gene

Answer 1

Hint:Transposons or transposable elements is a sequence of DNA that can change its position within a genome. Sometimes it can even create or reverse mutations and alter the cell’s genetic identity and genomic size.

Step by step solution:

Cosmid is a hybrid plasmid (plasmid is extrachromosomal material present beside the main genomic material in prokaryotes) that contains lambda phage cos sequence. Cosmid is used as a cloning vector in genetic engineering, they are also used to build genomic libraries. Cosmid is constructed by joining lambda phage DNA and plasmid DNA. The advantage of cosmid over plasmid is that its construction is much simpler.
The sequence of DNA present in mature messenger RNA commonly known as mRNA encodes the amino acids of the protein. Most of the genes have several exons along with introns between them. The presence of introns is a prokaryotic character and shows reminiscent of antiquity as introns have no role in protein synthesis.
A gene mutation is an alteration in a normal gene. Some mutations can lead to genetic disorders or illnesses. Mutation can lead to a change in a gene’s instructions for making a protein, this can cause a protein to malfunction or not be produced at all.
Transposons or transposable element is a sequence of DNA that can change their position within a genome. Sometimes it can even create or reverse mutations and alter the cell’s genetic identity and genomic size. These are repetitive DNA sequences and can move from one location to another. DNA transposons are found in both prokaryotic organisms as well as eukaryotic organisms. They can make up a significant portion of an organism’s genome, especially in eukaryotes.
Hence, the option (B) is correct.
Note: Transposon causes mutations in an organism when they change their position. But, this does not mean that we can call a mutated gene a transposon. Transposons do cause mutations but the vice-versa is not true that all mutations or mutated genes are not due to transposons, they may have various other reasons or causes.