Too Much Eukaryote LGT
Abstract
The realization that prokaryotes naturally and frequently disperse genes across steep taxonomic boundaries via lateral gene transfer (LGT) gave wings to the idea that eukaryotes might do the same. Eukaryotes do acquire genes from mitochondria and plastids and they do transfer genes during the process of secondary endosymbiosis, the spread of plastids via eukaryotic algal endosymbionts. From those observations it, however, does not follow that eukaryotes transfer genes either in the same ways as prokaryotes do, or to a quantitatively similar degree. An important illustration of the difference is that eukaryotes do not exhibit pangenomes, though prokaryotes do. Eukaryotes reveal no detectable cumulative effects of LGT, though prokaryotes do. A critical analysis suggests that something is deeply amiss with eukaryote LGT theories.Keywords
This publication has 112 references indexed in Scilit:
- The cytochrome bd respiratory oxygen reductasesBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics, 2011
- Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocksProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011
- Modular networks and cumulative impact of lateral transfer in prokaryote genome evolutionProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008
- The genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideumNature, 2005
- Lateral gene transfer in eukaryotesCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 2005
- An anaerobic mitochondrion that produces hydrogenNature, 2005
- Endosymbiotic gene transfer: organelle genomes forge eukaryotic chromosomesNature Reviews Genetics, 2004
- Phylogenetic analyses do not support horizontal gene transfers from bacteria to vertebratesNature, 2001
- Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genomeNature, 2001
- On the origin of mitosing cellsJournal of Theoretical Biology, 1967