RIKEN Plant Science Center, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.
Science. 2010 May 28;328(5982):1128. doi: 10.1126/science.1187145.
Horizontal gene transfer has been postulated to occur between crops to co-occurring parasitic plants, but empirical evidence has been lacking. We present evidence that an HGT event moved a nuclear monocot gene into the genome of the eudicot parasite witchweed (Striga hermonthica), which infects many grass species in Africa. Analysis of expressed sequence tags revealed that the genome of S. hermonthica contains a nuclear gene that is widely conserved among grass species but is not found in other eudicots. Phylogenetically, this gene clusters with sorghum genes, the monocot host of the parasitic weed, suggesting that nuclear genes can be captured by parasitic weeds in nature.
水平基因转移被认为发生在作物与共发生的寄生植物之间，但缺乏经验证据。我们提出的证据表明，一个 HGT 事件将一个核单子叶植物基因转移到了拟南芥寄生植物列当（Striga hermonthica）的基因组中，该基因感染了非洲的许多草本物种。表达序列标签分析表明，列当的基因组包含一个在草本物种中广泛保守但在其他真双子叶植物中不存在的核基因。系统发育分析表明，该基因与高粱基因聚类，高粱是寄生杂草的单子叶植物宿主，这表明核基因可以在自然界中被寄生杂草捕获。
