Dr. Michael Brockhurst, University of Sheffield
Causes and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in microbes
We are now in the world of temperate phages...and one plasmid that we'll hear about later.
Causes and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in microbes
We are now in the world of temperate phages...and one plasmid that we'll hear about later.
- Temperate phages have a two-stage life cycle, lytic and lysogenic (where they 'hide' by integrating in the genome and becoming a prophage).
- So what are the benefits of interacting and integrating temperate phages as a bacterium?
- Lots of horizontal gene transfer
- Accelerated evolutionary adaptation potential - how so?
- When you have phages jumping in and out of genomes leaving and taking DNA with them, you have the potential for mutational events and rearrangements...genes get turned on and off - this is all fuel for evolutionary adaptation (or just death, ya death can happen too).
- Increased competitiveness
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