What is Horizontal Gene Transfer?

A Horizontal Gene Transfer (sometimes called lateral gene transfer or sideways gene transfer) is the passing of one or more genes through routes other than parent-to-offspring. In this animation you will learn what that looks like and how it effects evolution.

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SOURCES

Horizontal Gene Transfer of antibiotic resistance: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3...

Horizontal Gene Transfer between bats and frogs: https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.c...

Contradicting findings about how common horizontal gene transfer is in animals:

Common: https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.c...

Rare: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Horizontal gene transfer from viruses is thought to to have given rise to at least two proteins that modern placental mammals use in placenta formation. If correct, this is an amazing example of gene capture and re-purposing! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...