High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Retrotransposons (also called transposons via RNA intermediates) are genetic elements that can amplify themselves in a genome and are ubiquitous components of the DNA of many eukaryotic organisms. They are a subclass of transposon. They are particularly abundant in plants, where they are often a principal component of nuclear DNA. In maize, 49-78% of the genome is made up of retrotransposons. In wheat, about 90% of the genome consists of repeated sequences and 68% of transposable elements. In mammals, almost half the genome (45% to 48%) comprises transposons or remnants of transposons. Around 42% of the human genome is made up of retrotransposons while DNA transposons account for about 2-3%.