linkedin post 2016-02-16 05:55:32
OLD AND NEW. "Horizontal gene transfer is both ancient and ongoing." https://lnkd.in/e5G7Nk8 View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-18 15:56:54
COMPLEX BEINGS RESIST INNOVATION. "A primordial cell harbouring a small group of genes can potentially gain a lot by adding new genes to its repertoire; but a more sophisticated cell with hundreds or thousands of genes risks imbalancing an intricate genome fine-tuned by a longer period of natural selection. So, complex eukaryotic cells evolved new ways to protect their DNA and expunge genetic invaders." https://aeon.co/essays/genes-that-jump-species-does-this-shake-the-tree-of-life View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-18 15:51:16
NO TREE OF LIFE. "Rather than rising from a single trunk, they say, the tree of life stands on an interweaving root system. Rather than evolving from one ‘last universal ancestor’, all life arose from a communal pool of primitive cells with unbridled zeal for exchanging DNA. For relatively simple cells with only a handful of genes each, swapping DNA was an excellent strategy for acquiring and preserving the best adaptations around." https://aeon.co/essays/genes-that-jump-species-does-this-shake-the-tree-of-life View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:44:47
DOWNSIDE OF INNOVATION. "Unfortunately, HGT has also allowed adaptation to the human host environment, both by spreading pathogenicity determinants and by allowing pathogenic bacteria to acquire resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics." https://lnkd.in/ej6mCcR View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:41:50
GENE IMPORTS EXPAND INNOVATION. "Our results extend recent findings that HGT is more prevalent in animals than previously suspected, and they suggest that organisms that survive extreme stresses might be predisposed to acquiring foreign genes." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/52/15976.abstract View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:37:36
"FOREIGN GENES have supplemented, expanded, and even replaced some metazoan gene families within the tardigrade genome. Our results demonstrate that an unexpectedly large fraction of an animal genome can be derived from foreign sources." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/52/15976.abstract View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:33:27
EXTREMOPHILE HGT. "Approximately one-sixth of the genes in the tardigrade genome were found to have been acquired through horizontal transfer, a proportion nearly double the proportion of previous known cases of extreme horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in animals." https://lnkd.in/epvRixb View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:29:42
SINGLE STRAND DNA IMPORTS. "Generally, competent bacteria can translocate chromosomal DNA fragments, plasmids or phage DNA across their membrane(s). The actual translocation process varies among taxa, but usually involves the transfer of single DNA strands." https://lnkd.in/eXE-r93 View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:27:05
NO FAMILY UNTOUCHED. "The results of a network analysis of shared genes agree with the idea that horizontal gene transfer leaves no gene family untouched." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn
linkedin post 2016-02-17 05:20:13
PARTNER GOVERNED. "It has been shown that the integration of a single transferred gene into regulatory interaction networks is very slow. In the case of genes providing the receptor with new functions...it is dependent on the number of partners for the gene product in the regulatory network...products of these genes are integrated in the periphery of the corresponding regulatory network. On the other hand, transferred genes codifying for products with few partners are more easily deleted from genomes." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn