Evidence has been found for substantial horizontal gene transmission between microorganisms and animals. Although horizontal gene transmission is common in bacteria and has been observed previously in less complex animals such as worms, it was not previously shown that more complex animals, including humans, carried large numbers of genes acquired via horizontal gene transmission. Crisp et al at the University of Cambridge studied full genomes in 26 animal species to identify foreign genes acquired via horizontal gene transmission. Although they found only 33 foriegn genes (very few compared to rates in bacteria), this was still many more than had been previously documented, and many of them were involved in crucial processes. The 33 genes found are involved in lipid metabolism, inflammatory response, immune cell signalling, and antimicrobial responses, as well as amino-acid metabolism, protein modification and antioxidant activities. While the majority of the foreign genes came from bacteria and protists, there were also some with viral and fungal origins. The introduction of this foreign DNA in the animal lineage, believed to have been acquired sometime between the origins of Chordata and the last common ancestor of all extant primates, may have had important evolutionary ramifications in the animal lineage.
Science Daily article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150312123319.htm
Original source: Alastair Crisp, Chiara Boschetti, Malcolm Perry, Alan Tunnacliffe, Gos Micklem. Expression of multiple horizontally acquired genes is a hallmark of both vertebrate and invertebrate genomes. Genome Biology, 2015; 16 (1). http://genomebiology.com/2015/16/1/50
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