Sometimes its no survival of the fittest ... its just survival that matters.
'Space invader' DNA infiltrated mammalian genomes - life - 20 October 2008 - New Scientist
The team thinks that the hAT transposon invasion occurred about 30 million years ago and spread across at least two continents. "It's like a pandemic, and one that can infect species that weren't genetically or geographically close. It's puzzling, scary almost," Feschotte says.
It may not be a coincidence that the time of the invasion coincides with a period in evolutionary history that saw mass mammal extinctions. This is usually attributed to climate change, Feschotte says, but it is not crazy to suppose that this type of invasion could contribute to species extinction.
The hAT transposon does not occur in humans, but some 45% of our genome is of transposon origin.
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