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METABOLIC INNOVATION. "Escape from Muller’s ratchet can be considered the most fundamental benefit of HGT in microbial evolution but it certainly is not the only one. Acquisition of new genes and whole operons appears to be the principal route of metabolic network expansion in microbes." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

MAJOR TRANSITIONS. "Recent phylogenomic analyses suggest that episodes of massive HGT were pivotal for the emergence of major groups of organisms such as multiple archaeal phyla as well as eukaryotes." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

EQUIVALENT OF SEX. "Thus, in prokaryotes, HGT plays the same role of preventing mutational meltdown that in eukaryotes is played by meiotic sex." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

GENE GAIN EXCEEDS GENE LOSS. "Quantitatively, however, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) dominates microbial evolution, with the rate of gene gain and loss being comparable to the rate of point mutations and much greater than the duplication rate." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

PROTECTION. "The model shows that, thanks to the stochastic nature of the mutation process, protection from the ratchet is achievable despite the fact that environmental DNA that comes from dead microbes on average has a higher mutational load than the DNA of living recipient cells." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

OFFSETTING THE RATCHET. "The only route of actual escape from Muller’s ratchet appears to be gene acquisition via HGT resulting in either displacement of a mutated gene by a functional copy or gain of new genes that offsets the deleterious effects of accumulating mutations." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

LAW OF THE RATCHET. "Demise caused by Muller’s ratchet appears to be the typical fate of bacteria that are confined to intracellular parasitism or symbiosis, although the ratchet can be slowed down by lowering the mutation rate." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

ASEXUAL DEAD END. "Clonal populations typically deteriorate due to the action of the evolutionary mechanism known as Muller’s ratchet, i.e. gradual loss of fitness and eventual extinction caused by accumulation of slightly deleterious mutations via genetic drift." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

DEPENDENT ON HGT. "Can microbes evolve without substantial HGT, simply via the competition of clonal populations? Apparently not, as population genetic modeling indicates that this evolutionary regime is unsustainable in the long term." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

DIFFERENT MECHANISM. "In a sharp contrast to eukaryotes, in bacteria and archaea, the dominant feature of genome evolution is not gene duplication but rather evolution by extensive gene loss and gene gain via HGT." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn