Horizontal Gene Transfer.ppt

Horizontal Gene Transfer The movement of genetic material between two organisms. Once incorporated it is then ‘vertically’ inherited. HGT in Eukaryotes Eukaryotes - membrane bound, nucleus Exchange of genetic material during sexual reproduction Recombination One other instance of HGT in Euks Endosymbiosis, happened at least 2 billion years ago. Transfer of genes from mitochondria, plastids to nuclear genome over that time Mitochondria have about 40 genes Plastids have about 120 genes Horizontal Gene Transfer The movement of genetic material BETWEEN prokaryotes Common in prokaryotes. Useful for environmental adaptation (better than point mutations) Prokaryotes Different kind of cell organization Sex as you don’t know it Horizontal Gene Transfer Also called Lateral Gene Transfer HGT and LGT for short 3 ways to do it Transformation- naked DNA, short pieces, common in bacteria that transform Clay –28 hrs; ocean surface - 45-83 hrs; ocean sediment-235 Transduction – phage, donor/recipient share receptors, closely related bacteria, DNA: amount in phage head Conjugation-plasmids/transposons, cell to cell contact, distant relations, long DNA Known Instances of HGT Antibiotic resistance genes on plasmids Insertion sequences Pathogenicity islands Toxin resistance genes on plasmids Agrobacterium Ti plasmid Viruses and viroids Organelle to nucleus transfers The question: how much HGT really goes on? Rare going from prokaryotes into multi celled euks because must go into egg/sperm Exception is mitochondria, plastids Instances of Euks -Proks ?!?! How often does it happen in proks? Lateral Gene Transfer and the nature of bacterial innovationOchman, Lawrence, and Groisman, Nature 405:299-304 Single celled organism, genome varies only by an order of magnitude. Narrow taxonomic groups, phenotypic diversity is remarkable. Usually have a unique set of physiological characters to define its particular ecological niche. How can you detect HGT’s? DNA sequence informati