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Review
. 2020 Jan;225(1):113-117.
doi: 10.1111/nph.16022. Epub 2019 Jul 26.

On the evolutionary significance of horizontal gene transfers in plants

David A Wickell  1   2 , Fay-Wei Li  1   2
Affiliations
Free article
Review

On the evolutionary significance of horizontal gene transfers in plants

David A Wickell et al. New Phytol. 2020 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has long been seen as a crucial process in the evolution of prokaryotic species, but until recently it was thought to have little, if any, effect on the evolution of eukaryotic life forms. Detecting and describing HGT events in eukaryotes is difficult, making this phenomenon at times controversial. However, modern advances in genomics and bioinformatics have radically altered our view of HGT in eukaryotes, especially in plants. It now appears that HGT to and from plant lineages is more common than previously suspected. Importantly, the transfer of functional nuclear genes with adaptive significance has been reported in numerous taxa. Here we review several recent studies that have found evidence of the horizontal transfer of nuclear genes, and argue that HGT has undoubtedly had profound impacts on plant evolution as a whole.

Keywords: C4 photosynthesis; adaptation; evolutionary novelty; ferns; parasitic plants.

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