Non-clonal evolution of microbes

Authors: JAIN, RAVI; RIVERA, MARIA C.¹; MOORE, JONATHAN E.²; LAKE, JAMES A.

Source: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 79, Number 1, May 2003 , pp. 27-32(6)

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Abstract:

Horizontal gene transfer is the collective name for processes that permit the exchange of DNA among organisms of different species. Only recently has it been recognized as a significant contribution to interorganismal gene exchange. Traditionally, it was thought that microorganisms evolved clonally, passing genes from mother to daughter cells with little or no exchange of DNA among diverse species. Studies of microbial genomes have shown, however, that genomes contain genes that are closely related to a number of different prokaryotes, sometimes to phylogenetically very distantly related ones. Whereas prokaryotic and eukaryotic evolution was once reconstructed from a single 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, the analysis of complete genomes is beginning to yield a different picture of microbial evolution, one that is wrought with the horizontal movement of genes across vast phylogenetic distances. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 79, 27-32.

Keywords: 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA); DNA; eukaryotes; evolution; horizontal gene transfer; methanogen; prokaryotes

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00174.x

Affiliations: 1: IGPP Astrobiology, 2: Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

Publication date: 2003-05-01