Gene cassette

In biology, a gene cassette is a type of mobile genetic element that contains a gene and a recombination site. Each cassette usually contains a single gene and tends to be very small; on the order of 500–1,000 base pairs. They may exist incorporated into an integron or freely as circular DNA.[1] Gene cassettes can move around within an organism's genome or be transferred to another organism in the environment via horizontal gene transfer. These cassettes often carry antibiotic resistance genes. An example would be the kanMX cassette which confers kanamycin (an antibiotic) resistance upon bacteria.

  1. ^ Hall, RM; Collis, CM (1995). "Mobile gene cassettes and integrons: Capture and spread of genes by site-specific recombination". Molecular Microbiology. 15 (4): 593–600. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.1995.tb02368.x. PMID 7783631.