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Evolution

Gene transfer in complex cells

Nature volume 524, pages 423–424 (2015)Cite this article

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A comparative genomic study shows that, during evolution, nucleus-containing cells acquired DNA from bacteria primarily by endosymbiosis — the uptake and integration of one cell by another. See Article p.427

Once controversial, the idea that genetic material can be transferred laterally between organisms is now known to be a key factor in the evolution of the prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), whose DNA is not enclosed in a nucleus1. However, it is unclear to what extent such transfer affects eukaryotic (nucleus-bearing) cells, which are typically thought to transmit their genes vertically from parent to offspring. In this issue, Ku et al.2 (page 427) assess the contribution of lateral gene transfer (LGT) to the eukaryotic nuclear genome, and conclude that, although prokaryote-to-eukaryote LGT has happened, it has not extensively affected the eukaryotic cell over long evolutionary timescales.

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Figure 1: Acquiring foreign DNA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John M. Archibald is in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada, and at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Program in Integrated Microbial Biodiversity, Toronto.,

    John M. Archibald

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  1. John M. Archibald
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Correspondence to John M. Archibald.

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Archibald, J. Gene transfer in complex cells. Nature 524, 423–424 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15205

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