What are the three mechanisms of lateral horizontal gene transfer?
There are three known mechanisms of lateral gene transfer: transformation, transduction, and conjugation. Transformation implies the acquisition of naked DNA, for example, from lysed cells, by a recipient cell.
What is horizontal gene transfer in genetics?
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), also known as lateral gene transfer, refers to the movement of genetic information across normal mating barriers, between more or less distantly related organisms, and thus stands in distinction to the standard vertical transmission of genes from parent to offspring.
What is an example of horizontal gene transfer?
Most examples to date include gene transfers from bacterial donors to recipient organisms including fungi, plants, and animals. In plants, one well-studied example of HGT is the transfer of the tumor-inducing genes (T-DNAs) from some Agrobacterium species into their host plant genomes.
What are the 3 types of bacterial gene transfer?
There are three “classical” methods of DNA transfer in nature: bacterial conjugation, natural transformation, and transduction (von Wintersdorff et al., 2016). Via HGT, exogenous DNA can be transferred from one bacterium to another even if they are only distantly related (Chen et al., 2005; Burton and Dubnau, 2010).
What’s the difference between horizontal gene transfer and vertical gene transfer?
In vertical gene transfer, the transfer of genetic material is from parents to offspring. It may be through sexual or asexual reproduction. In contrast, the horizontal gene transfer is the movement of genetic material from a donor organism to a recipient organism that is not its offspring.
What is important about horizontal gene transfer?
Horizontal gene transfer is the primary mechanism for the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and plays an important role in the evolution of bacteria that can degrade novel compounds such as human-created pesticides and in the evolution, maintenance, and transmission of virulence.
How does horizontal gene transfer differ from vertical gene transfer?
What causes horizontal gene transfer?
Horizontal gene transfer is made possible in large part by the existence of mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids (extrachromosomal genetic material), transposons (“jumping genes”), and bacteria-infecting viruses (bacteriophages).
Why is horizontal gene transfer a problem?
As a natural defense mechanism in some bacteria, the CRISPR-Cas9 system can overcome horizontal transfer of genetic material, mediated by EVs and/or plasmids. HGT consequence in all cases is the emergence of resistant bacteria strains and the spread of human-related infections.
Why is lateral gene transfer important?
Lateral genetic transfer (LGT) is an important adaptive force in evolution, contributing to metabolic, physiological and ecological innovation in most prokaryotes and some eukaryotes.
What is an example of lateral gene transfer in bacteria?
Horizontal gene transfer also plays a role in the spread of virulence factors, such as exotoxins and exoenzymes, amongst bacteria. A prime example concerning the spread of exotoxins is the adaptive evolution of Shiga toxins in E. coli through horizontal gene transfer via transduction with Shigella species of bacteria.