Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is thought to play an important role in the evolution of species and innovation of genomes. There have been many convincing evidences for HGT for specific genes or gene families, but there has been no estimate of the global extent of HGT. Here, we present a method of identifying HGT events within a given protein family and estimate the global extent of HGT in all curated protein domain families ( approximately 8,000) listed in the Pfam database. The results suggest four conclusions: (i) for all protein domain families in Pfam, the fixation of genes horizontally transferred is not a rampant phenomenon between organisms with substantial phylogenetic separations (1.1-9.7% of Pfam families surveyed at three taxonomic ranges studied show indication of HGT); (ii) however, at the level of domains, >50% of Archaea have one or more protein domains acquired by HGT, and nearly 30-50% of Bacteria did the same when examined at three taxonomic ranges. But, the equivalent value for Eukarya is <10%; (iii) HGT will have very little impact in the construction of organism phylogeny, when the construction methods use whole genomes, large numbers of common genes, or SSU rRNAs; and (iv) there appears to be no strong preference of HGT for protein families of particular cellular or molecular functions.
Global extent of horizontal gene transfer. Publishing Authors By Initials
Global extent of horizontal gene transfer. Journal Published:
PUBLICATION TYPE: Research Support, N.I.H., Extr
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
VOLUME: 104
Page Numbers: 4489-94
Journal Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
ISSN: 0027-8424
DAY: 7
MONTH: 03
YEAR: 2007
Global extent of horizontal gene transfer. Information
Number of References:
LANGUAGE: eng
NlmUniqueID: 7505876
Global extent of horizontal gene transfer. Keywords Mesh Terms:
KEYWORDS: RNA, Ribosomal
MESH TERMS: chemistry
Chemical & Substance for Abstract: Global extent of horizontal gene transfer. Information
Substance Name: RNA, Ribosomal
Registry Number: 0
Grant and Affiliation Information for Global extent of horizontal gene transfer.
AFFILIATION: Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Country: United States
AGENCY: United States NIGMS
GRANT: GM 62412
ACRONYM: GM
MEDLINETA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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