![]() "The past two years have clearly demonstrated the destructive potential of viruses, but we think that this work serves as an interesting reminder that viruses have also contributed to the evolution of life on Earth," said Dr. Future research into these transferred genes may therefore provide a novel approach for understanding the infection processes of these and other viruses which could be important for drug discovery. This can lead to a rapid emergence of new abilities, as opposed to the more incremental changes that result from smaller mutations.Īlthough viruses such as Zika and coronaviruses do not appear to participate in these gene transfers, they often manipulate similar genes in their hosts through complex mechanisms. If the gene does something useful, it can sweep through the population and become a feature of that species. HGT allows genes to jump between species including viruses and their hosts. "These transfers not only have evolutionary consequences for both virus and host, but could have important health implications," Dr. "This suggests that host-virus interactions may have played an important role in driving the diversity of life we see today." "Many of these viral-derived genes appear to have repeatedly affected the structure and form of different organisms, from the cell walls of algae to the tissues of animals," said Dr. In contrast to viruses, eukaryotic organisms retained fewer viral genes, although the ones that were kept appear to have had a major impact on host biology over evolutionary time. An apple a day keeps the doctor away: polyphenol-enriched apples alter immune cell gene expression and fecal microbiota composition.Biological underpinnings of a reproductive disorder caused by mutation of autism gene.Researchers discuss strategic actions to stimulate research on fungal diseases in the context of the WHO fungal pathogens priority list.Patrick Keeling, study's senior author, professor, Department of Botany, UBC By studying the function of these genes we were able to make predictions about how these viruses affect their hosts during infection."ĭr. ![]() We were interested to find that certain groups of viruses, especially those that infect single-celled eukaryotes, acquire a lot of genes from their hosts. They identified many genes that had been transferred and found that HGT from eukaryotes to viruses was twice as frequent as the reverse direction. To tackle this problem, the authors examined viral-eukaryotic gene transfer in the genomes of hundreds of eukaryotic species and thousands of viruses. "We wanted to understand more broadly how HGT has affected viruses and eukaryotes from across the tree of life." Nicholas Irwin, a Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, University of Oxford, and former PhD student at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Even humans have viral genes, which are important for our development and brain function," said the study's lead author, Dr. "We knew from individual examples that viral genes have played a role in the evolution of eukaryotes. However the new study, published in Nature Microbiology, looks at interactions between viruses and eukaryotes, which include animals, plants, fungi, protists and most algae. Previous studies have looked at HGT between bacteria and their viruses and have shown that it plays a major role in the movement of genes between bacterial species. HGT is the movement of genetic material between disparate groups of organisms, rather than by the "vertical" transmission of DNA from parent to offspring. ![]() The first comprehensive analysis of viral horizontal gene transfer (HGT) illustrates the extent to which viruses pick up genes from their hosts to hone their infection process, while at the same time hosts also co-opt useful viral genes.
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