Horizontal gene transfer and alien invaders
From Science Daily:
Researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington have found the first solid evidence of horizontal DNA transfer, the movement of genetic material among non-mating species, between parasitic invertebrates and some of their vertebrate hosts.
Genome biologist Cédric Feschotte and postdoctoral researchers Clément Gilbert and Sarah Schaack found evidence of horizontal transfer of transposon from a South American blood-sucking bug and a pond snail to their hosts. A transposon is a segment of DNA that can replicate itself and move around to different positions within the genome. Transposons can cause mutations, change the amount of DNA in the cell and dramatically influence the structure and function of the genomes where they reside.
I heard about this in February where I was at a meeting where Cédric gave a talk.
What they have found is families of transposons in different branches of mammals that doesn’t seem to have been inherited from further up the phylogeny. Some distantly related mammals have them, but their close relations do not. They appear to have just popped out of no where (so Cédric calls them “space invaders”).
They seem to have entered the genomes at roughly the same time, a time where the ancestors of those species have lived in the same area, and what points to horizontal gene transfer is that parasites that would have fed on these animals do have the same transposon family.
His talk at the meeting was recorded (all the talks were) but I haven’t yet found the videos online so I guess they are still being processed or something. When I find them, I’ll let you know.