Transposon mutagenesis, or transposition mutagenesis, is a biological process that allows genes to be transferred to a host organism's chromosome, interrupting or modifying the function of an extant gene on the chromosome and causing mutation.[1]
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Transposon mutagenesis was first studied by Barbara McClintock in the mid-20th century during her Nobel Prize-winning work with corn. [2][3]
In the case of bacteria, transposition mutagenesis is usually accomplished by way of a plasmid from which a transposon is extracted and inserted into the host chromosome. This usually requires a set of enzymes including transposase to be translated.[3]