Associate Professor Shailesh Lal Studies "Jumping Genes"

Transposable elements (sequences of DNA that can move to different positions in the genome, sometimes called "jumping genes") constitute a large fraction of the human genome and have been linked to a number of genetic disorders and cancer. They also play a role in transmission of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, thus creating multi-antibiotic resistant strains. Associate Professor Shailesh Lal, of the Department of Biological Sciences, studies one particular type of transposable element, a helitron, using the corn genome as his model system. In the February, 2009 issue of Plant Science, Lal and his coworkers published a review article describing this work: Helitrons: Enigmatic Abductors and Mobilizers of Host Genome Sequences (Volume 176, Pages 181-186). Coauthor Matthew Oetjens is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Biology program.