Oakland University
Sunday, February 8, 2009

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.
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.

Created by Heather Mattiello (heather.mattiello@caretech.com) on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Modified by Brad Roth (roth@oakland.edu) on Thursday, March 12, 2009
Article Start Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009