Table 1.
Transposable elements active in vertebrate species for use as gene transfer and insertional mutagenesis vectors.
| Transposon | Familya | Activity in cultured cellsb | Activity in vertebrate animalsc | References |
| L1 | LINE retrotransposon | Mouse (PCT) Human (PCT) | Mouse (TCRG) | [21,22] |
| Tol2 | hAT | Mouse (EP) Human (EP) | Medaka (TCRG) Zebrafish (TCRG). | [27,28,32] |
| Tc1 | Tc1/mariner | Human (PCT) Mouse (PCT) | - | [19,39,40] |
| Tc3 | Tc1/mariner | Human (PCT) | Zebrafish (GT and TCRG) | [19,42] |
| Mariner (Himar1) | Tc1/mariner | Human (IPT) | - | [19,44] |
| Mariner (Mos1) | Tc1/mariner | Human (PCT) | Chicken (GT), zebrafish (GT) | [5,19,43] |
| Minos | Tc1/mariner | Human (PCT) | Mouse (TCRG) Mouse (TCRS) | [46-48] |
| Sleeping Beauty | Tc1/mariner | Mouse, hamster, human, monkey, dog, cow, sheep, quail, Xenopus, many fish (PCT) | Mouse (GT) Mouse lung, liver (SCT) Mouse (TCRG) Mouse (TCRS) | [4,19,30,51,53-56,59,60] |
aRelevant superfamily of transposable element. bActivity in immortalized cell lines has been demonstrated using by demonstrating excision from an introduced plasmid (EP), interplasmid transposition (IPT), or full transposition from introduced plasmid (or viral vector) into chromosomes (PCT). cActivity in intact animals (various species) has been demonstrated by germline transgenesis (GT), somatic cell transgenesis (SCT), transposition of chromosomally resident transposon vectors in the germline (TCRG), and transposition of chromosomally resident transposon vectors in the soma (TCRS).