Jumping Genes

Student Notes

Background Information

Our genomes are not static, they change continually. And it is not only humans that are effected, it is a very wide-spread phenomenon in plants. One very visible example of jumping genes in action is the multi-coloured kernels present on a single cob of sweet corn. Each different coloured kernel is produced by at least one “jumping gene”.

Creative Commons photo by Wendy Harman

The Activity

The posters provided with this documentation represent the human genome with genes

(coloured blocked with names/codes), circles (tandem repeats i.e. jumping genes), and a black continuous line which represent the remainder of the non-coding DNA.

The length of the genome is relative – so it can be seen that the bigger the gene, the more likely it is to be hit by a jumping gene.

Tiddlywinks represent other jumping genes.

You need “jump” tiddlywinks onto the genome – You use the yellow tiddlywinks as a tool to make the red and green“genes” to jump.

If you land on a gene, then you can look that gene up using the PowerPoint presentation and it will show you the effects caused by this particular gene being disrupted.

The Rules

You should use a yellow tiddlywinks to “flick” a red or green one onto the genome poster. If your tiddlywinks lands:-

Outside the genome (i.e. outside the poster) – have another go.
On a black line (or on no line or block or circle whatsoever) – then it hasn’t landed anywhere significant in the genome so no harm is done, and you can do it again.
On another circle – you have landed on another jumping gene, in another tandem repeat sequence, so no effect has been caused and you shouldhave another go.
On a gene (even when it is just touching) – your jumping gene has hit a gene, remember the name of the gene and go the computer and look it up on the Powerpoint presentation for a possible explanation of what harm could be caused.

Points to Think About

Where a jumping gene lands on a gene could be important for its effect –
at the end of a gene could be less disastrous,
just before a gene could hit sequences that control the gene expression

This poster only shows 41 genes, but there are 25,000 genes in the human genome. These 41 genes were chosen because they are related to a disease caused by the effects of jumping genes.

Would landing on just one copy of the gene cause the effect, or would both copies have to be disrupted?

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