Editing Integron (section)

== Discovery ==
Integrons were initially discovered on conjugative plasmids through their role in antibiotic resistance.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mazel | year = 2006 | title = Integrons: agents of bacterial evolution | journal = Nature Reviews Microbiology | volume = 4 | issue = 8| pages = 608–620 | doi = 10.1038/nrmicro1462 | pmid = 16845431 | s2cid = 4407151 }}</ref> Indeed, these mobile integrons, as they are now known, can carry a variety of cassettes containing genes that are almost exclusively related to antibiotic resistance. Further studies have come to the conclusion that integrons are chromosomal elements, and that their mobilisation onto plasmids has been fostered by transposons and selected by the intensive use of antibiotics. The function of the majority of cassettes found in chromosomal integrons remains unknown.