Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is now widely accepted as an indispensable mechanism in the evolution of microbes, but its contribution in metazoans still raises controversies. This is partly due to the methodologies used for the comprehensive prediction of HGT candidates from genomic information and ...
Learn about the difference between vertical gene transfer & horizontal gene transfer. Understand the artificial and natural mechanisms of lateral...
There are three main types of gene transfer in prokaryotes: transduction, conjugation and transformation. Transduction is horizontal gene transfer that happens when a virus helps move DNA from one bacterium to another. Conjugationinvolves the temporary fusion of microbes to transfer DNA. This process u...
While horizontal gene transfer has been shown to occur naturally in nature (between plants that grow close to each other), various artificial techniques are used to insert gene sequences to some plants with the aim of increasing yields, making them more tolerant of various environmental conditions...
The main way in which viruses in soils act beneficially is by transferring genes between microbial hosts by horizontal gene transfer. The gene transfer enables the transfer of beneficial characteristics between different communities. Another way that viruses in soils have potential benefits for plants is...
Transformation is the process of horizontal gene transfer where the bacterium acquires the new genetic material from its immediate environment. The discovery of transformation was done by the scientist Frederick Griffith. The experiment was done on a Streptococcus pneumoniae. When he injected the rough ...
Unicellular organisms emerged over 3 billion years ago where horizontal gene transfer occurred between different species that finally led to the formation of three different cell types. This theory was proposed after the analysis of the three cells’ genomes and obtaining results showing that they shar...
These mutations differ to gene duplication, because the latter can result in an increase of expression of a gene or sets of genes, rather than the modification of a protein. Additionally, the duplication of one set of genes viaunequal crossing overcan result in the deletion of genetic informati...
Prokaryotic gene evolution occurs either by horizontal gene transfer, mutation, or sexual reproduction in sexually reproducing species as bacteria. Some prokaryotes acquire new genes by the process ofconjugationwhere theplasmidof a prokaryote is introduced into another to transfer new genes to it, these...
Viral virulence factors, for instance, are chieflyproteinsthat are incited by the infective virus to be produced by the host’s ownproteinmachinery. Bacterial virulence factors are likewise proteins that are coded for by their owngenesor byplasmidsthat they acquired via horizontalgene transfer. ...