Transposons unbound

One of the mechanisms that eukaryotes possess to regulate the movement of transposable elements & DNA sequences that can hop from one chromosomal location to another & is DNA methylation. A new study shows the consequences of removing this methylation-induced protection. The authors describe a hybrid between two species of wallaby that shows genome-wide undermethylation. Looking at the chromosomes of this hybrid, they find vast numbers of an amplified transposable element that is not found in either of the parental species.