Navigation Links
No sex, but plenty of gene transfer
Date:5/29/2008

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA Where do you get your genes?

If you are an animal, you inherit them from your parents at the moment of conception, and that's about it. No later incorporation of environmental DNA for you, unless you become host to a parasite or an endosymbiont that somehow transfers bits of its genome into yours (which is a rarely documented event).

Unless you are a bdelloid rotifer, that is.

This odd, microscopic, freshwater animal is making news once again, this time for the startling discovery of numerous chunks of foreign DNA in its genome. In a paper published this week in Science, evidence for massive horizontal gene transferfrom bacteria, fungi, even from plantsinto the bdelloid rotifer genome is presented by Irina Arkhipova and Matthew Meselson, scientists at the MBL's Josephine Bay Paul Center and at Harvard University, and Harvard graduate student Eugene Gladyshev.

While horizontal gene transfer is common in bacterial species, it was unheard of in the animal kingdom on such a massive scale until this study.

"It is quite amazing that bdelloids are able to recruit foreign genes, which were acquired from remarkably diverse sources, to function in the new host," says Arkhipova. "Bdelloids may have the capacity for tapping into the entire environmental gene pool, which may be of (evolutionarily) adaptive significance during expansion into new ecological niches, and may even contribute to bdelloid speciation," she says.

This finding may help to explain why bdelloids, which are exclusively asexual, have managed to diversify into more than 360 species over 40 million years of evolution. Sometimes called an "evolutionary scandal," bdelloids contradict the notion that sex which recombines the DNA from the parents in their offspringconfers diversity and greater adaptability on a population, thereby boosting its evolutionary success. Arkhipova's study suggests that if bdelloids can incorporate for
'/>"/>

Contact: Diana Kenney
dkenney@mbl.edu
508-289-7139
Marine Biological Laboratory
Source:Eurekalert  

0

GOOD

Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. In-vitro fertilization improved with 3-D/4-D-guided embryo transfer and new placement target
2. Silex Introduces Worlds First Wireless USB Device Server With Streaming Video and Audio Data Transfer
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
Related Image:
No sex, but plenty of gene transfer
No sex, but plenty of gene transfer
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):University of Washington professor garners Avanti Young Investigator Award 2Vermicompost from pig manure grows healthy hibiscus 2'Fighting' IED attacks with SCARE technology 2'Fighting' IED attacks with SCARE technology 3The MedZilla Report for October 2009 Health Care Employment Grows Again in October Even As Clinics Specialty Centers Close 14966 1The MedZilla Report for October 2009 Health Care Employment Grows Again in October Even As Clinics Specialty Centers Close 14966 2The MedZilla Report for October 2009 Health Care Employment Grows Again in October Even As Clinics Specialty Centers Close 14966 3The MedZilla Report for October 2009 Health Care Employment Grows Again in October Even As Clinics Specialty Centers Close 14966 4Senate Votes to Proceed 60 Plus Announces New 9 State TV Campaign Targeted at Senators to Protect Medicare 62049 1Senate Votes to Proceed 60 Plus Announces New 9 State TV Campaign Targeted at Senators to Protect Medicare 62049 2Senate Votes to Proceed 60 Plus Announces New 9 State TV Campaign Targeted at Senators to Protect Medicare 62049 3deCODE genetics Inc Announces Approval of First Day Motions by Bankruptcy Court 14965 1deCODE genetics Inc Announces Approval of First Day Motions by Bankruptcy Court 14965 2deCODE genetics Inc Announces Approval of First Day Motions by Bankruptcy Court 14965 3
Breaking Biology Technology:Life Line Screening Joins the Vascular Disease Foundation as Corporate Partner 2Life Line Screening Joins the Vascular Disease Foundation as Corporate Partner 3Neurocrine Announces Top-Line Results From 703 Study (Tulip PETAL Study) of Elagolix for Treatment of Endometriosis Pain 2Neurocrine Announces Top-Line Results From 703 Study (Tulip PETAL Study) of Elagolix for Treatment of Endometriosis Pain 3Neurocrine Announces Top-Line Results From 703 Study (Tulip PETAL Study) of Elagolix for Treatment of Endometriosis Pain 4Neurocrine Announces Top-Line Results From 703 Study (Tulip PETAL Study) of Elagolix for Treatment of Endometriosis Pain 5Neurocrine Announces Top-Line Results From 703 Study (Tulip PETAL Study) of Elagolix for Treatment of Endometriosis Pain 6Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Licenses Caldolor(R) (ibuprofen) Injection to DB Pharm Korea for Commercialization in South Korea 2Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Licenses Caldolor(R) (ibuprofen) Injection to DB Pharm Korea for Commercialization in South Korea 3Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Licenses Caldolor(R) (ibuprofen) Injection to DB Pharm Korea for Commercialization in South Korea 4Critical Step Toward Commercialization of Pre-Symptomatic Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer Achieved by Arrayit Diagnostics 2Critical Step Toward Commercialization of Pre-Symptomatic Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer Achieved by Arrayit Diagnostics 3Critical Step Toward Commercialization of Pre-Symptomatic Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer Achieved by Arrayit Diagnostics 4