English: Generic diagram of Sleeping Beauty transposase-mediated cut-and-paste transposition. Figure 1. Mechanism of SB-mediated transposition. Top line: A transposon, defined by the mirrored sets of red double arrows (IR/DRs) is shown as contained in another DNA molecule (e.g., a plasmid shown by the blue lines). The transposon in this example harbors an expression cassette consisting of a promoter (blue oval) that can direct transcription of the gene or other DNA sequence labeled “genetic cargo”. Middle lines: Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposase binds to the IR/DRs as shown and cuts the transposon out of the plasmid (the cut sites are indicated by the two black slashed lines in the remaining plasmid) Bottom two lines: Another DNA molecule (green) with a TA sequence can become the recipient of a transposed transposon. In the process, the TA sequence at the insertion site is duplicated.