Horizontal transfer beyond genes: Fig. 1.

Horizontal transfer beyond genes.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a major process in the evolution of bacteria and archaea (1–3) that is thought to be the principal source of functional innovation in microbial evolution (4, 5). The signal of vertical, tree-like evolution is detectable primarily among genes encoding components of information processing systems, whereas evolution of the operational genes (primarily, metabolic e...

Evidence for horizontal transfer of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase genes.

PCR was used to rapidly identify and isolate 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase genes from bacteria. The Shimodaira-Hasegawa test was used to assess whether phylogenetically anomalous gene placements suggestive of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) were significantly favored over vertical transmission. The best maximum likelihood (ML) ACC deaminase tree was significantly more likely ...

Fig. 1

Horizontal transfer of CS1 pilin genes of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

CS1 is one of a limited number of serologically distinct pili found in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains associated with disease in people. The genes for the CS1 pilus are on a large plasmid, pCoo. We show that pCoo is not self-transmissible, although our sequence determination for part of pCoo shows regions almost identical to those in the conjugative drug resistance plasmid R64....

Microcin C51 plasmid genes: possible source of horizontal gene transfer.

Microcin C51 (MccC51) is an antimicrobial nucleotide-heptapeptide produced by a natural Escherichia coli strain. A 5.7-kb fragment of the pC51 plasmid carrying the genes involved in MccC51 production, secretion, and self-immunity was sequenced, and the genes were characterized. The sequence of the MccC51 gene cluster is highly similar to that of the MccC7 gene. Recombinant plasmids carrying dif...