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HGT AS EVOLVABLE. "Given the indispensability of HGT for the survival of microbial populations, a plausible hypothesis seems to be that HGT is evolvable, i.e. is an adaptive, selectable trait." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

TREE THINKING DEBATE. "The concept of ‘lateral genomics’...posits that the dominant process in microbial evolution is gene exchange between organisms rather than vertical descent along a tree. In its extreme form, lateral genomics denies the relevance of tree-like evolution and “tree thinking” in biology altogether." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

ENZYMATIC FITNESS. "As the network grows, gain of a single enzyme is increasingly likely to provide access to a new nutrient leading to increased fitness." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

CURIOUS PARADOX. "Similar analyses appear to indicate that, in addition to donating hundreds of genes to the emerging eukaryotic lineage, mitochondrial endosymbiosis severely curtailed HGT." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

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