Molecular Info®

Molecular Info® Copy Right © 2001 Institute of Molecular Development LLC

Phylogenetic analyses do not support horizontal gene transfers from bacteria to vertebrates MICHAEL J. STANHOPE, ANDREI LUPAS, MICHAEL J. ITALIA, KRISTIN K. KORETKE, CRAIG VOLKER & JAMES R. BROWN The Nature, 411: 940-944, June 2001. A phylogenetic analysis of 28 proposed HGT (horizontal gene transfer) genes, whose presence in the human genome had been confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results indicate that most putative HGT genes are present in more anciently derived eukaryotes (many such sequences available in non-vertebrate EST databases) and can be explained in terms of descent through common ancestry. They are, therefore, unlikely to be examples of direct HGT from bacteria to vertebrates.