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Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites

Our knowledge of the extent and functional impact of lateral gene transfer (LGT) from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, outside of endosymbiosis, is still rather limited. Here we review the recent literature, focusing mainly on microbial parasites, indicating that LGT from diverse prokaryotes has played a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hirt, Robert P, Alsmark, Cecilia, Embley, T Martin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Current Biology 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728198/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25483352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2014.11.018
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author Hirt, Robert P
Alsmark, Cecilia
Embley, T Martin
author_facet Hirt, Robert P
Alsmark, Cecilia
Embley, T Martin
author_sort Hirt, Robert P
collection PubMed
description Our knowledge of the extent and functional impact of lateral gene transfer (LGT) from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, outside of endosymbiosis, is still rather limited. Here we review the recent literature, focusing mainly on microbial parasites, indicating that LGT from diverse prokaryotes has played a significant role in the evolution of a number of lineages, and by extension throughout eukaryotic evolution. As might be expected, taxonomic biases for donor prokaryotes indicate that shared habitat is a major factor driving transfers. The LGTs identified predominantly affect enzymes from metabolic pathways, but over a third of LGT are genes for putative proteins of unknown function. Finally, we discuss the difficulties in analysing LGT among eukaryotes and suggest that high-throughput methodologies integrating different approaches are needed to achieve a more global understanding of the importance of LGT in eukaryotic evolution.
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spelling pubmed-47281982016-02-22 Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites Hirt, Robert P Alsmark, Cecilia Embley, T Martin Curr Opin Microbiol Article Our knowledge of the extent and functional impact of lateral gene transfer (LGT) from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, outside of endosymbiosis, is still rather limited. Here we review the recent literature, focusing mainly on microbial parasites, indicating that LGT from diverse prokaryotes has played a significant role in the evolution of a number of lineages, and by extension throughout eukaryotic evolution. As might be expected, taxonomic biases for donor prokaryotes indicate that shared habitat is a major factor driving transfers. The LGTs identified predominantly affect enzymes from metabolic pathways, but over a third of LGT are genes for putative proteins of unknown function. Finally, we discuss the difficulties in analysing LGT among eukaryotes and suggest that high-throughput methodologies integrating different approaches are needed to achieve a more global understanding of the importance of LGT in eukaryotic evolution. Current Biology 2015-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4728198/ /pubmed/25483352 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2014.11.018 Text en © 2014 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hirt, Robert P
Alsmark, Cecilia
Embley, T Martin
Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title_full Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title_fullStr Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title_full_unstemmed Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title_short Lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
title_sort lateral gene transfers and the origins of the eukaryote proteome: a view from microbial parasites
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728198/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25483352
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2014.11.018
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