Gene transfer: anything goes in plant mitochondria

[摘要] Parasitic plants and their hosts have proven remarkably adept at exchanging fragments of mitochondrial DNA. Two recent studies provide important mechanistic insights into the pattern, process and consequences of horizontal gene transfer, demonstrating that genes can be transferred in large chunks and that gene conversion between foreign and native genes leads to intragenic mosaicism. A model involving duplicative horizontal gene transfer and differential gene conversion is proposed as a hitherto unrecognized source of genetic diversity.See research article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7007/8/150

[发布日期] 2010-12-22

[关键词] Horizontal Gene Transfer;Gene Conversion;Parasitic Plant;Plant Mitochondrion;Horizontal Gene Transfer Event