Horizontal gene transfer: a critical view
Författare
Summary, in English
It has been suggested that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the "essence of phylogeny." In contrast, much data suggest that this is an exaggeration resulting in part from a reliance on inadequate methods to identify HGT events. In addition, the assumption that HGT is a ubiquitous influence throughout evolution is questionable. Instead, rampant global HGT is likely to have been relevant only to primitive genomes. In modern organisms we suggest that both the range and frequencies of HGT are constrained most often by selective barriers. As a consequence those HGT events that do occur most often have little influence on genome phylogeny. Although HGT does occur with important evolutionary consequences, classical Darwinian lineages seem to be the dominant mode of evolution for modern organisms.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2003
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
9658-9662
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volym
100
Issue
17
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
National Academy of Sciences
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Microbial Ecology
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1091-6490