retroposon
nounEtymology From retropose + -on.
1
Biology, Genetics, Medicine, Natural sciences, Sciences A fragment of DNA inserted into a chromosome following reverse transcription from RNA.
- The best-known retroposons are “copia” and the families similar to copia, which were discovered in Drosophila but are also found in many other animals and even in yeast and higher plants, and the similarly ubiquitous foldback (FB) element, "THE1" in humans and "VL30" in rats and mice.1994, Klaus Urich, Comparative Animal Biochemistry, page 21: