2015/05/22 by Gergely J. Szöllősi, Szöllősi, Gergely J., Adrián Davín +7 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology #Protist diversity and phylogeny
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1505.06067
Although the role of lateral gene transfer is well recognized in the\nevolution of bacteria, it is generally assumed that it has had less influence\namong eukaryotes. To explore this hypothesis we compare the dynamics of genome\nevolution in two groups of organisms: Cyanobacteria and Fungi. Ancestral\ngenomes are inferred in both clades using two types of methods. First, Count, a\ngene tree unaware method that models gene duplications, gains and losses to\nexplain the observed numbers of genes present in a genome. Second, ALE, a more\nrecent gene tree-aware method that reconciles gene trees with a species tree\nusing a model of gene duplication, loss, and transfer. We compare their merits\nand their ability to quantify the role of transfers, and assess the impact of\ntaxonomic sampling on their inferences. We present what we believe is\ncompelling evidence that gene transfer plays a significant role in the\nevolution of Fungi.\n