Hi all

The old notion of harmful bacteria and beneficial bacteria has been challenged. All bacteria have various functions, some have negative effects on the host, leading to disorders and/or diseases. Some bacteria are required by their hosts for normal functioning and some appear neutral, adventitious, symbiotic, etc. New work shows how common it is for genetic material to pass from one of these to another:

Most microbial genomes have experienced extensive gene mobility between lineages during
their evolution, a phenomenon known as horizontal gene transfer (HGT). This process has
been critical in shaping microbial genome evolution both in terms of functional repertoires
and of genome architecture. Many HGT events result in a gene being copied
from the donor genome to the recipient genome

The study of the HGT is of paramount importance for several reasons. First, from a clinical
perspective, HGT plays a major role in the emergence of new human diseases, as well as promoting
the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacterial species. From the fundamental,
evolutionary standpoint, HGT links distant branches in the tree of life, turning it into an evolutionary
network. Genetically, HGT is an important, if not the primary, source of
genetic novelty by bacteria and archaea

Understanding and detecting HGT within the strains, could be of great importance,
for instance in understanding the origin of pathogenicity of certain pathogenic strains,
particularly those whose ancestors were not pathogenic.

Adato O, Ninyo N, Gophna U, Snir S (2015) Detecting Horizontal Gene Transfer between Closely Related Taxa. 
PLoS Comput Biol 11(10): e1004408

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html