Computational archaeology of the Pristionchus pacificus genome reveals evidence of horizontal gene transfers from insects.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The recent sequencing of nematode genomes has laid the basis for comparative genomics approaches to study the impact of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) on the adaptation to new environments and the evolution of parasitism. In the beetle associated nematode Pristionchus pacificus HGT events were found to involve cellulase genes of microbial origin and Diapausin genes that are known from beetles, but not from other nematodes. The insect-to-nematode horizontal transfer is of special interest given that P. pacificus shows a tight association with insects.

Results

In this study we utilized the observation that horizontally transferred genes often exhibit codon usage patterns more similar to that of the donor than that of the acceptor genome. We introduced GC-normalized

SUBMITTER: Rodelsperger C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3175473 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature