Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA in transmissible cancer.

ABSTRACT: Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA between cells of host and cancer is a potential source of adaptive variation in cancer cells. An understanding of the frequency and significance of this process in naturally occurring tumors is, however, lacking. We screened for this phenomenon in the transmissible cancers of dogs and Tasmanian devils and found an instance in the canine transmissible venereal tumor (CTVT). This involved introduction of a 15-megabase dicentric genetic element, composed of 11 fragments of six chromosomes, to a CTVT sublineage occurring in Asia around 2,000 y ago. The element forms the short arm of a small submetacentric chromosome and derives from a dog with ancestry associated with the ancient Middle East. The introduced DNA fragment is transcriptionally active and has ado

SUBMITTER: Gori K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12067285 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature