A New Phylogenomic Approach For Quantifying Horizontal Gene Transfer Trends in Prokaryotes.

ABSTRACT: It is well established nowadays that among prokaryotes, various families of orthologous genes exhibit conflicting evolutionary history. A prime factor for this conflict is horizontal gene transfer (HGT) - the transfer of genetic material not via vertical descent. Thus, the prevalence of HGT is challenging the meaningfulness of the classical Tree of Life concept. Here we present a comprehensive study of HGT representing the entire prokaryotic world. We mainly rely on a novel analytic approach for analyzing an aggregate of gene histories, by means of the quartet plurality distribution (QPD) that we develop. Through the analysis of real and simulated data, QPD is used to reveal evidence of a barrier against HGT, separating the archaea from the bacteria and making HGT between the two domains,

SUBMITTER: Avni E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7381616 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature