Final answer:
Transposons, as agents of genetic diversity, use the enzyme transposase to move within a genome, leading to potential genetic alterations or regulation. While their movement can be harmful, it can also provide evolutionary advantages and contribute to genetic variation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Transposons may serve as substrates for cellular recombination systems as agents of genetic diversity and evolution. These elements, sometimes referred to as "jumping genes," have the ability to move from one location in a genome to another using the enzyme transposase. This movement can occur in a "cut-and-paste" fashion, where the transposon is cut from its original location and inserted into a new location, or a "copy-and-paste" style, especially in the case of retrotransposons.
The ability of transposons to move can lead to genetic changes by activating or inactivating genes, and they can also cause structural genomic alterations. They play a role in the spread of antibiotic resistance by transferring resistance genes among bacteria, and their movement can result in phenotypic changes or mutations that provide an evolutionary advantage. This genomic mobility has potentially harmful effects, but it also contributes to genetic variation, which can be beneficial.
An additional function of transposons is their role in genetic regulation. Over time, some transposons can become inactive due to mutations, but others may persist and play regulatory roles within their host genomes. This contradicts the earlier notion that transposons were just "selfish" or "junk" DNA, proposing instead that they can have significant functional and evolutionary impacts.