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Plants and Animals Sometimes Take Genes From Bacteria, Study Suggests (sciencemag.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science Magazine: Many genome studies have shown that prokaryotes—bacteria and archaea -- liberally swap genes among species, which influences their evolution. The initial sequencing of the human genome suggested our species, too, has picked up microbial genes. But further work demonstrated that such genes found in vertebrate genomes were often contaminants introduced during sequencing. [...] Debashish Bhattacharya, an evolutionary genomicist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and UD plant biochemist Andreas Weber took a closer look at a possible case of bacteria-to-eukaryote gene transfer that [William Martin, a biologist that concluded that there is no significant ongoing transfer of prokaryotic genes into eukaryotes, has challenged in 2015]. The initial sequencing of genomes from two species of red algae called Cyanidiophyceae had indicated that up to 6% of their DNA had a prokaryotic origin. These so-called extremophiles, which live in acidic hot springs and even inside rock, can't afford to maintain superfluous DNA. They appear to contain only genes needed for survival. "When we find a bacterial gene, we know it has an important function or it wouldn't last" in the genome, Bhattacharya says.
He and Weber turned to a newer technology that deciphers long pieces of DNA. The 13 red algal genomes they studied contain 96 foreign genes, nearly all of them sandwiched between typical algal genes in the DNA sequenced, which makes it unlikely they were accidentally introduced in the lab. "At the very least, this argument that [putative transferred genes are] all contamination should finally be obsolete," says Gerald Schoenknecht, a plant physiologist at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. The transferred genes seem to transport or detoxify heavy metals, or they help the algae extract nourishment from the environment or cope with high temperature and other stressful conditions. "By acquiring genes from extremophile prokaryotes, these red algae have adapted to more and more extreme environments," Schoenknecht says. While Martin says the new evidence doesn't persuade him, several insect researchers say they see evidence of such gene transfer. "I've moved beyond asking 'if [the bacterial genes] are there,' to how they work," says John McCutcheon, a biologist at Montana State University in Missoula who studies mealy bugs. The red algae, he adds, "is a very clear case."
He and Weber turned to a newer technology that deciphers long pieces of DNA. The 13 red algal genomes they studied contain 96 foreign genes, nearly all of them sandwiched between typical algal genes in the DNA sequenced, which makes it unlikely they were accidentally introduced in the lab. "At the very least, this argument that [putative transferred genes are] all contamination should finally be obsolete," says Gerald Schoenknecht, a plant physiologist at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. The transferred genes seem to transport or detoxify heavy metals, or they help the algae extract nourishment from the environment or cope with high temperature and other stressful conditions. "By acquiring genes from extremophile prokaryotes, these red algae have adapted to more and more extreme environments," Schoenknecht says. While Martin says the new evidence doesn't persuade him, several insect researchers say they see evidence of such gene transfer. "I've moved beyond asking 'if [the bacterial genes] are there,' to how they work," says John McCutcheon, a biologist at Montana State University in Missoula who studies mealy bugs. The red algae, he adds, "is a very clear case."
As the human genome as embedded entire viruses and bacterial genes can be transported by virus-like creatures (Phages), I would think this was old news.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Plants and Animals Sometimes Take Genes From Bacteria, Study Suggests
Ok, that is just blatant copyright infringement and IP theft all rolled into one ... the bacteria should lawyer up.
I could see this working in a simple organism that has a high reproductive rate, like flies or algae, because mistakes that cause death aren't a problem for the local population. But in humans or other creatures that only reproduce a small number of times, genetic tinkering like this seems like it could either a) cause an awful lot of deaths, or b) on the conservative time, take ridiculously long to have any positive effect on our species. I'm assuming a useful gene transfer is very rare and harmful ones are more common. Bad assumption?
In other words, I'm wondering in practice how larger species can benefit in a sustainable way from inter-species gene transfer.
They'll just take it from anywhere.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
than Darwin.
from whales
Yeah, wait until they meet lawyers.
I'm pretty sure flesh eating lawyers are a real thing...
But do they know how they got there? They are assuming that like genes necessarily came from bacteria, just as they are assuming that our DNA bits that we share with Neanderthals came from Neanderthals. They are assuming provenance from likeness. Prove it.
E Proelio Veritas.
Oh my, this is HORRIBLE!!!
The 1%ers are TAKING from those poor lowly bacteria!
Talk about punching down!!
This is intolerable!!!!!!
I'm pretty sure that acquiring genes from a parasite makes people Democrats
This is the reason the GMO scare craze is based completely on ignorance, the techniques used to modify organism are based on mechanisms that happen in nature, we didn't "invent" anything, just copied and added control on what is being modified, and every single organism is genetically modified, from bacteria to the blue whale, through out history of evolution snippets of DNA travel from one species to another, and without any control whatsoever, except that if the change is too bad the individual will die or not reproduce, we still have franken-tomatos even without human intervention.
overlords.
Let's hope their language is not shaped by centuries of drunkards until the ambiguities and inconsistent pronunciation rules made it crippled and cumbersome for anything but the dumbest common denominator.
This is the reason the GMO scare craze is based completely on ignorance
Sort of. In many cases it is basically an argument from ignorance. Their argument is basically "we can't conclusively prove that nothing bad can happen therefore something bad must/will happen". It's the same sort of clumsy thinking we see in those people who see a UFO, forget what the U stands for, and therefore conclude that it "must be aliens from another planet".
But people arguing against GMOs sometimes do so from the basis of ethical or economic issues (like patents) which are not necessarily ignorant arguments. There also are people arguing that what we are doing is fine but that we should pump the brakes a bit so we don't do things before we fully understand the likely consequences. Reasonable people can be cautious about GMOs without necessarily opposing them outright in a blind panic.
John McCutcheon, a biologist at Montana State University in Missoula
Last time I checked, Montana State University was in Bozeman and University of Montana was in Missoula.
How much of it is 'your thoughts' if bacteria was always there?
There's fungus among us. And malaria in the area.
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
More testing is needed. Interesting hypothesis. Real purpose of this post - someone appears someone to be hunting my posts and modding them troll. I'm occasionally a tad troll-like I'll admit but I'm getting modded down on very reasonable posts. This is bait.
Was this a test sentence deliberately crafted to release the blue smoke from Google Translate?
If I came across this sentence in an article on Wikipedia, I wouldn't be dropping {{subst:test1}} onto the user's talk page, I'd be dropping a phone number to a mental health hotline.
does not understand direction. Or biology.