> The movement of genes between unrelated species (horizontal gene transfer,
or HGT) may happen much more frequently than previously believed, allowing
species to acquire new genes and functions extremely quickly, say scientists
from the University of Rochester and the J. Craig Venter Institute.

>  Their new study, appearing Science, is based on the discovery of a copy
of the entire genome of a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of
its host species. If such gene transfers happen frequently between bacteria
and multicellular organisms, it will have dramatic implications for
evolutionary theory.

> "It didn't seem possible at first," says Jack Werren, professor of biology
at the University of Rochester. "This parasite [Wolbachia] has implanted
itself inside the cells of 70 percent of the world's invertebrates,
coevolving with them. And now, we've found at least one species where the
parasite's entire — or nearly entire — genome has been absorbed and
integrated into the host's. The host's genes actually hold the coding
information for a completely separate species."

Horizontal Gene Transfer Vastly Underestimated, Suggests New Study
http://tinyurl.com/267x87

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