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PMID: 12902542 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

Horizontal gene transfer: a critical view.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 100 ·No. 17 ·2003-08-19 ·Pages 9658-62

Kurland CG, Canback B, Berg OG

Abstract

It has been suggested that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the "essence of phylogeny." In contrast, much data suggest that this is an exaggeration resulting in part from a reliance on inadequate methods to identify HGT events. In addition, the assumption that HGT is a ubiquitous influence throughout evolution is questionable. Instead, rampant global HGT is likely to have been relevant only to primitive genomes. In modern organisms we suggest that both the range and frequencies of HGT are constrained most often by selective barriers. As a consequence those HGT events that do occur most often have little influence on genome phylogeny. Although HGT does occur with important evolutionary consequences, classical Darwinian lineages seem to be the dominant mode of evolution for modern organisms.

MeSH Terms
Animals Archaea/genetics Bacteria/genetics Biological Evolution Gene Transfer, Horizontal Genome Humans Models, Genetic Phylogeny RNA, Ribosomal/genetics
Chemicals
RNA, Ribosomal
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Kurland C G
Department of Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, University of Uppsala, S-75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
Canback B
Berg Otto G
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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
0027-8424
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1632870100
Published
2003-08-19
Epub
2003-00-05
Pages
9658-62
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC187805
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1632870100 PMC Full Text View journal details
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