Anderson Mark T, Seifert H Steven
Department of Microbiology-Immunology; Northwestern University; Feinberg School of Medicine; Chicago, IL USA.
Mob Genet Elements. 2011 May;1(1):85-87. doi: 10.4161/mge.1.1.15868.
Horizontal gene transfer is an important mechanism for generating genetic diversity. As the number of sequenced genomes continues to increase, so do the examples of horizontal genetic exchange between both related and divergent organisms. Here we discuss the recent finding that certain strains of the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae have incorporated a small fragment of human DNA sequence into their genomes. The horizontally acquired sequence exhibits 98-100% nucleotide identity to a 685 bp portion of the highly repetitive retrotransposable element L1 and its presence in the gonococcal genome has been confirmed by multiple molecular techniques. The possibility of similar L1 horizontal gene transfer events having occurred in other bacteria based on genomic sequence evidence is explored. Potential mechanisms of how N. gonorrhoeae was able to acquire and maintain this human sequence are also discussed in addition to the evolutionary implications of such an event.
水平基因转移是产生遗传多样性的重要机制。随着测序基因组数量的不断增加，相关和不同生物之间水平基因交换的例子也越来越多。在此，我们讨论最近的一项发现，即人类病原体淋病奈瑟菌的某些菌株已将一小段人类DNA序列整合到其基因组中。水平获得的序列与高度重复的逆转座子元件L1的685 bp部分具有98 - 100%的核苷酸同一性，并且通过多种分子技术已证实其存在于淋球菌基因组中。基于基因组序列证据，探讨了其他细菌中发生类似L1水平基因转移事件的可能性。除了此类事件的进化意义外，还讨论了淋病奈瑟菌获得并维持这种人类序列的潜在机制。
