Also known as Transposable element#DNA transposons DNA transposons], these employ a strategy by which the transposon is excised from its position via transposase, and re-integrated elsewhere in the genome. These can be identified by the following:
* TIRs, terminal inverted repeats, which allow transposase to recognize the transposon and excise/reintegrate it
* TSDs, target site duplications, which are generated during re-integration and are thought to add to the difficulties in recognizing transposons
Those DNA transposons lacking the coding necessary to synthesize transposase function non-autonomously, likely piggy-backing off of the machinery generated by neighboring transposons of the same class. An example of this would be MITEs, miniature inverted repeat transposable elements, which, while having both TIRs and TSDs, cannot produce transposase. These are particularly prevalent in plants, and are thought to be derived from deletions in the more autonomous DNA transposons. Similarly, these types of transposons can become non-autonomous by capturing or replicating pieces of host DNA.