Wędrowski Mateusz, Waśniowski Paweł, Wędrowska Ewelina, Golińska Joanna, Piskorska Elżbieta, Zukow Walery. Mobile genetic elements – mechanism and consequences of transposition. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(12):412-428. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1161264 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/5223 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 1223 (26.01.2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2017; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 01.12.2017. Revised: 15.12.2017. Accepted: 31.12.2017. Mobile genetic elements – mechanism and consequences of transposition Mateusz Wędrowski1,2, Paweł Waśniowski2, Ewelina Wędrowska3, Joanna Golińska3, Elżbieta Piskorska4, Walery Zukow5, 1Department of Positron Emission Tomography and Molecular Diagnostics, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland 2Nuclear Medicine Department, Oncology Centre, Bydgoszcz, Poland 3Department of Gene Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland 4Department of Pathobiochemistry and Clinical Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University Collegium Medicum, Bydgoszcz, Poland 5 Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland Corresponding author: Ewelina Wędrowska Zakład Genoterapii Collegium Medicum UMK 85-094 Bydgoszcz, ul. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 9 tel. +48 517-545-893 e-mail: ewelina.wedrowska@gmail.com Abstract Retrotransposons represent a significant part of the genome in eukaryote organisms. With DNA transposons, they belong to mobile genetic elements. There are two classes of transposons, DNA transposons and retrotransposons. Retrotransposons have three genes in their structure (gag, pol, env), responsible for the activation and encoding of structural proteins and envelope proteins. There is a group of retroelements without LTR (non-LTR). This group consists LINE (Long Interspersed Nuclear Elements) and SINE (Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements) sequences. LINE sequences represent 20% of human genetic material. Sequences of retrotransposons can move within the genome of a particular organism, occasionally subjected to replication as a result of enzyme activity, i.e. reverse transcriptase. The process of retro transposition is imperfect. These processes often cause mutation (most often: insertion, deletion), genetic instability, they contribute to the development of diseases on the genetic basis, including cancer. Retrotransposons are also used to analyze genetic variation as genetic markers. Key words: retrotransposons, retro transposition, transposons, mobile genetic elements