Evolution: land plant evolution from horizontal transfer (Evolution)

by David Turell , Tuesday, March 01, 2022, 17:51 (787 days ago) @ David Turell

New study finds the genes:

https://phys.org/news/2022-03-bacteria-genes-gave-ancient-traits.html

"Genes jumping from microbes to green algae hundreds of millions of years ago might have driven the evolution of land plants, researchers report March 1 in the journal Molecular Plant. Their analysis reveals that hundreds of genes from bacteria, fungi, and viruses have been integrated into plants, giving them desirable traits for a terrestrial life.

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"To investigate the role of HGT in plant evolution, the researchers scanned the genomes of 31 plants. They included species from all four plant groups, including mosses, ferns, and trees, as well as charophytes, a group of green algae related to modern land plants. They found that nearly 600 gene families in modern plants—far more than were previously thought—were transferred from other organisms, especially from microbes such as bacteria and fungi.

"In addition, the team identified two major episodes of HGT during the early evolution of charophyte algae and the origin of land plants, when over a hundred gene families hopped from microbes to plants.

"Our finding suggests that HGT plays a significant role in land-plant evolution. Compared with mutations from vertical gene transfer, HGT enables plants to gain new traits rapidly, and some of these new traits could help plants adapt to a drastically different environment, like when they moved from water to land," Huang says.

"Many of the genes acquired are known to perform important biological functions in plants. For example, the late embryogenesis abundant genes, which came from bacteria, helps plants adapt to a drier environment. The ammonium transporter gene, acquired from fungi, helps plants absorb nitrogen from soil for growth.

"'Almost everyone has experienced teary eyes when chopping an onion. We found that the gene in onions responsible for producing the tear-jerking agent actually came from bacteria. That's very interesting because we are all aware of this reaction but didn't realize it's a result from HGT until now," Huang says. "There're many more examples like this.'"

Comment: seems like a likely event. An easy dabble for God.