Parasites Sneak Entire Genome into Flies
By Dave Mosher, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 30 August 2007 02:07 pm ET
Spineless creatures of the world, watch out: Bacteria can slip their entire genetic codes into yours.
Scientists have discovered the parasitic microbe Wolbachia’s entire genome—the software of life—inside that of its fruit fly host.
The breakthrough suggests that movement of genes between two different species, called lateral gene transfer, happens faster and more frequently than scientists thought possible, leading them to rethink some ideas about evolution.
“This is stunning evidence for increased frequency of gene transfer,” said W. Ford Doolittle, a molecular biologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, who was not involved in the study. A few years ago the process would have been considered “science fiction,” Doolittle said.
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