Mechanism for DNA transposons to generate introns on genomic scales

The observations that introns are acquired in bursts and that exons are often nucleosome-sized can be explained by the generation of introns from DNA transposons, which insert between nucleosomes. In eukaryotes, genes are often interrupted by non-coding sequences, or introns, that must be removed to permit the function of the gene. Evolutionary analysis suggests that introns are acquired in bursts, but the mechanism underlying this punctuated...