Mariner: its prospects as a DNA vector for the genetic manipulation of medically important insects.

Originally described in Drosophila mauritiana, the mariner transposable element has very recently been identified in 63 other insect species, representing ten insect orders, and including the malaria-vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Ann Warren and Julian Crampton here discuss how transposable elements can be exploited as valuable research tools for the molecular characterization of genomes and as DNA vectors for genome manipulation and the 'creation' of transgenic organisms.