Molecular Biology and Evolution 17:1769-1773 (2000)
© 2000 Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
Letter to the Editor |
Lateral Gene Transfer and Metabolic Adaptation in the Human Parasite Trichomonas vaginalis
*Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;
Genome Sequence Centre, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;
and
§Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The evolution of a parasitic lifestyle necessitates adaptation to a specialized niche. Examples of common adaptive traits include host interaction systems, metabolic pathways that allow the acquisition of nutrients from the host, and mechanisms to evade host defenses. Such traits could originate by a process of gradual change, but there are mechanisms that would allow potential parasites to adapt very quickly, and one of these mechanisms is lateral gene transfer. Lateral transfer is the process by which genetic information is passed from one genome to an unrelated genome, where it is stably integrated and maintained. There is growing evidence from whole-genome analyses that this process is a very important mechanism in genome evolution, particularly among prokaryotes (Lawrence 1999
). Lateral transfer may be especially important in the evolution of a parasitic lifestyle, as infection-related factors could be transmitted, and many of these factors would presumably confer an immediate selective advantage.
 |
Acknowledgements |
|---|
|
Footnotes |
|---|
|
literature cited |
|---|
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  P. R. Marri, W. Hao, and G. B. Golding Gene Gain and Gene Loss in Streptococcus: Is It Driven by Habitat? Mol. Biol. Evol., December 1, 2006; 23(12): 2379 - 2391. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. S. de Felipe, S. Pampou, O. S. Jovanovic, C. D. Pericone, S. F. Ye, S. Kalachikov, and H. A. Shuman Evidence for Acquisition of Legionella Type IV Secretion Substrates via Interdomain Horizontal Gene Transfer J. Bacteriol., November 15, 2005; 187(22): 7716 - 7726. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 E. R. Vimr, K. A. Kalivoda, E. L. Deszo, and S. M. Steenbergen Diversity of Microbial Sialic Acid Metabolism Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., March 1, 2004; 68(1): 132 - 153. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. M. Fast, J. S. Law, B. A. P. Williams, and P. J. Keeling Bacterial Catalase in the Microsporidian Nosema locustae: Implications for Microsporidian Metabolism and Genome Evolution Eukaryot. Cell, October 1, 2003; 2(5): 1069 - 1075. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. E. J. Nixon, J. Field, A. G. McArthur, M. L. Sogin, N. Yarlett, B. J. Loftus, and J. Samuelson Iron-Dependent Hydrogenases of Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia: Activity of the Recombinant Entamoebic Enzyme and Evidence for Lateral Gene Transfer Biol. Bull., February 1, 2003; 204(1): 1 - 9. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. Kondo, N. Nikoh, N. Ijichi, M. Shimada, and T. Fukatsu Genome fragment of Wolbachia endosymbiont transferred to X chromosome of host insect PNAS, October 29, 2002; 99(22): 14280 - 14285. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Striepen, M. W. White, C. Li, M. N. Guerini, S.-B. Malik, J. M. Logsdon Jr., C. Liu, and M. S. Abrahamsen Genetic complementation in apicomplexan parasites PNAS, April 30, 2002; 99(9): 6304 - 6309. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. E. J. Nixon, A. Wang, J. Field, H. G. Morrison, A. G. McArthur, M. L. Sogin, B. J. Loftus, and J. Samuelson Evidence for Lateral Transfer of Genes Encoding Ferredoxins, Nitroreductases, NADH Oxidase, and Alcohol Dehydrogenase 3 from Anaerobic Prokaryotes to Giardialamblia and Entamoebahistolytica Eukaryot. Cell, April 1, 2002; 1(2): 181 - 190. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. O. Andersson and A. J. Roger Evolutionary Analyses of the Small Subunit of Glutamate Synthase: Gene Order Conservation, Gene Fusions, and Prokaryote-to- Eukaryote Lateral Gene Transfers Eukaryot. Cell, April 1, 2002; 1(2): 304 - 310. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Gerbod, V. P. Edgcomb, C. Noel, S. Va, R. Wintjens, J. Tachezy, M. L. Sogin, and E. Viscogliosi Phylogenetic Relationships of Class II Fumarase Genes from Trichomonad Species Mol. Biol. Evol., August 1, 2001; 18(8): 1574 - 1584. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Striepen, M. W. White, C. Li, M. N. Guerini, S.-B. Malik, J. M. Logsdon Jr., C. Liu, and M. S. Abrahamsen Genetic complementation in apicomplexan parasites PNAS, April 30, 2002; 99(9): 6304 - 6309. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|