Journal
TRENDS IN GENETICS
Volume 36, Issue 12, Pages 915-925Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2020.08.006
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Funding
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) [80NSSC19K0462]
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture-US Department of Agriculture Hatch grant [NJ01170]
- NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) [80NSSC19K1542]
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Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the movement of genetic material across branches of the tree of life, is well established in prokaryotes and uncontroversial. This is explained in part by relatively compact prokaryote genomes that facilitate assembly and gene prediction, resulting in thousands of complete genomes for analysis. By contrast, their large and often complex genome structure have thwarted HGT studies of eukaryotes. The tide has recently turned with the availability of sufficient high-quality genome data to address quantity and quality of HGT in these taxa. Here, we argue that HGT isa small but significant player in the evolution of microbial eukaryotes and provide examples where HGT has facilitated gain of adaptive functions and in some cases, underpinned major lifestyle transitions.
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