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Related Concept Videos

Types of Genetic Transfer Between Organisms02:18

Types of Genetic Transfer Between Organisms

Genetic transfer occurs when genetic information is passed from one organism to another. It occurs via two mechanisms: vertical gene transfer and horizontal gene transfer. Vertical gene transfer occurs when genetic information is transferred from one generation to the next, which happens much more frequently than horizontal gene transfer. Both sexual and asexual reproduction are forms of vertical gene transfer, where one or more organisms pass some or all of their genome onto their progeny.
Horizontal Gene Transfer01:27

Horizontal Gene Transfer

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a process where genetic material moves between organisms within the same generation, unlike vertical gene transfer, which occurs from parent to offspring. HGT plays a crucial role in microbial evolution, adaptation, and survival, particularly in shared environments like the human gut.Mobile genetic elements such as plasmids, prophages, integrons, insertion sequences, and transposons facilitate this process. HGT occurs through three primary mechanisms:...
Reporter Genes02:11

Reporter Genes

Reporter genes are a type of protein-coding gene that are often tagged to a gene of interest. Once inside a target cell, reporter genes usually produce visually identifiable characteristics like fluorescence and luminescence when expressed along with the gene of interest. Thus, reporter genes “report” the presence or absence of genes of interest in an organism, determine the gene expression pattern, or track the physical location of a DNA segment or protein in the cell.
Commonly used reporter...
Transduction01:16

Transduction

Among the three main modes of HGT—transformation, conjugation, and transduction—transduction is unique in that it is mediated by bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses.Transduction occurs in two ways. Generalized transduction occurs during the lytic cycle of a bacteriophage infection. In this process, bacteriophages infect bacterial cells, replicate within them, and ultimately cause cell lysis, releasing newly assembled virions. Occasionally, random fragments of the bacterial genome are...
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Genome Size and the Evolution of New Genes

While every living organism has a genome of some kind (be it RNA, or DNA), there is considerable variation in the sizes of these blueprints. One major factor that impacts genome size is whether the organism is prokaryotic or eukaryotic. In prokaryotes, the genome contains little to no non-coding sequence, such that genes are tightly clustered in groups or operons sequentially along the chromosome. Conversely, the genes in eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of non-coding sequence.
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Overview of Transposition and Recombination

Transposons make up a significant part of genomes of various organisms. Therefore, it is believed that transposition played a major evolutionary role in speciation by changing genome sizes and modifying gene expression patterns. For example, in bacteria, transposition can lead to conferring antibiotic resistance. Movement of transposable elements within the genetic pool of pathogenic bacteria can aid in transfer of antibiotic-resistant genetic elements. In eukaryotes, transposons can carry out...

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Detection of Horizontal Gene Transfer Mediated by Natural Conjugative Plasmids in E. coli
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Published on: March 24, 2023

Detecting laterally transferred genes.

Rajeev K Azad1, Jeffrey G Lawrence

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)
|March 13, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study explores two main methods for detecting alien genes in genomes: phylogenetic and parametric approaches. Both methods help identify genes with unusual evolutionary histories, aiding in understanding genome composition.

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Area of Science:

  • Genomics
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Bioinformatics

Background:

  • Identifying alien genes is crucial for understanding genome evolution and function.
  • Two primary classes of methods exist for detecting horizontally acquired genes: phylogenetic and parametric approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To discuss the strengths and weaknesses of phylogenetic and parametric methods for identifying alien genes.
  • To provide an overview of current strategies for detecting genes with non-vertical inheritance patterns.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenetic methods: analyze homolog distribution across genomes to find genes inconsistent with vertical inheritance (e.g., orphan genes, highly similar genes to distant relatives).
  • Parametric methods: examine gene compositional properties within a genome for atypical characteristics indicative of horizontal gene transfer.
  • Statistical tests are employed to assess confidence in predicted alien genes.

Main Results:

  • Phylogenetic methods identify genes with unusual homolog distribution, suggesting non-vertical inheritance.
  • Parametric methods detect genes with atypical compositional properties, potentially reflecting donor genome mutational pressures.
  • Both approaches offer complementary insights into alien gene identification.

Conclusions:

  • Phylogenetic and parametric methods represent distinct yet valuable strategies for identifying alien genes.
  • Understanding the strengths and limitations of each approach is key to accurate alien gene detection.
  • These methods contribute to a deeper comprehension of genome plasticity and evolution.