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Microbial genetics

Swapping genes within and beyond our bodies

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 25, page 164 (2024)Cite this article

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When thinking about genetics, we often think of lineages and the passing down of genes through generations. We think about vertical transmission. However, bacteria also acquire genetic material through horizontal transmission. As Smillie et al. noted in a 2011 study in Nature: “The human body is a complex biological network comprising ten microbes for each human cell and 100 microbial genes for each unique human gene”. Understanding bacterial networks of gene exchange is thus essential for an understanding of ourselves.

The authors harnessed the availability of 2,235 bacterial genomes from the integrated microbial genomes (IMG) system to comprehensively analyse the quantity of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among human- and non-human-associated bacteria and the forces that govern it. They focused on recent transfers and asked whether HGT was structured by phylogeny, geography or ecology.

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References

Original article

  • Smillie, C. S. et al. Ecology drives a global network of gene exchange connecting the human microbiome. Nature 480, 241–244 (2011)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias Genómicas (CCG), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, México

    Mashaal Sohail

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  1. Mashaal Sohail
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Correspondence to Mashaal Sohail.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Sohail, M. Swapping genes within and beyond our bodies. Nat Rev Genet 25, 164 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00689-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-023-00689-4

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