A 3D representation of the mosquito-borne disease, the Zika virus. The credit is given to the author, by the CC BY-SA 4.0.
The first comprehensive analysis of viral horizontal gene transfer shows the extent to which viruses pick up genes from their hosts and co-opt useful viral genes.
HGT is the movement of genetic material between different groups of organisms. Studies have shown that HGT plays a major role in the movement of genes betweenbacteria. The new study looks at interactions between Viruses and Eukaryotes, which include animals, plants, fungi, protists and most algae.
From individual examples, we knew that the evolution of the eukaryotes was influenced by viral genes. The study's lead author said that humans have viral genes which are important for our development and brain function. We wanted to understand how HGT has affected the organisms that live in the tree of life.
The authors looked at the genomes of hundreds of species and thousands of Viruses to find a solution to this problem. They found that HGT was twice as frequent as the reverse direction, and they identified many genes that had been transferred.
The study's senior author, a professor in the Department of Botany at the University of British Columbia, was interested in finding out if certain groups of viruses acquire a lot of genes from their hosts. We were able to make predictions about how these viruses affect their hosts by studying the function of these genes.
In contrast to viruses, the organisms retained fewer genes, but the ones that were kept had a big impact on host biology.
"Many of these viral-derived genes appear to have affected the structure and form of different organisms, from the cell walls of algae to the tissues of animals," said Dr. It is possible that host-viruses interactions played an important role in driving the diversity of life we see today.
"These transfers have evolutionary consequences for both virus and host, but could have important health implications," Dr.
HGT allows genes to jump between species. The population can be swept through if the gene does something useful. This can lead to a rapid emergence of new abilities, as opposed to the more gradual changes that result from smaller mutations.
Although the viruses do not participate in these gene transfers, they often manipulate similar genes in their hosts through complex mechanisms. Future research into these genes may provide a novel approach for understanding the infection processes of these and other viruses which could be important for drug discovery.
The past two years have shown the destructive potential of viruses, but we think that this work serves as an interesting reminder that viruses have contributed to the evolution of life on Earth.
The Systematic evaluation of horizontal gene transfer between eukaryotes and viruses was published in Nature Microbiology. There is a DOI titled " 10.1038/s41564-021-01026-3".
The journal contains information about Nature Microbiology.
There is a new research that showsgene exchange betweenviruses and hosts drives evolution.
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