Horizontally transferred genes in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi

Author:

Hernandez Alexandra M.12,Ryan Joseph F.12

Affiliation:

1. Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, St. Augustine, FL, USA

2. Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Abstract

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has had major impacts on the biology of a wide range of organisms from antibiotic resistance in bacteria to adaptations to herbivory in arthropods. A growing body of literature shows that HGT between non-animals and animals is more commonplace than previously thought. In this study, we present a thorough investigation of HGT in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi. We applied tests of phylogenetic incongruence to identify nine genes that were likely transferred horizontally early in ctenophore evolution from bacteria and non-metazoan eukaryotes. All but one of these HGTs (an uncharacterized protein) are homologous to characterized enzymes, supporting previous observations that genes encoding enzymes are more likely to be retained after HGT events. We found that the majority of these nine horizontally transferred genes were expressed during development, suggesting that they are active and play a role in the biology of M. leidyi. This is the first report of HGT in ctenophores, and contributes to an ever-growing literature on the prevalence of genetic information flowing between non-animals and animals.

Funder

University of Florida DSP Research Strategic Initiatives and the Office of the Provost

National Science Foundation

McKnight Doctoral Fellowship Program

Publisher

PeerJ

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine,General Neuroscience

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