Conaco Cecilia, Tsoulfas Pantelis, Sakarya Onur, Dolan Amanda, Werren John, Kosik Kenneth S
Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
University of Miami School of Medicine, Departments of Neurosurgery and Cell Biology, Miami, Florida, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2016 Mar 9;11(3):e0151092. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151092. eCollection 2016.
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is common between prokaryotes and phagotrophic eukaryotes. In metazoans, the scale and significance of HGT remains largely unexplored but is usually linked to a close association with parasites and endosymbionts. Marine sponges (Porifera), which host many microorganisms in their tissues and lack an isolated germ line, are potential carriers of genes transferred from prokaryotes. In this study, we identified a number of potential horizontally transferred genes within the genome of the sponge, Amphimedon queenslandica. We further identified homologs of some of these genes in other sponges. The transferred genes, most of which possess catalytic activity for carbohydrate or protein metabolism, have assimilated host genome characteristics and are actively expressed. The diversity of functions contributed by the horizontally transferred genes is likely an important factor in the adaptation and evolution of A. queenslandica. These findings highlight the potential importance of HGT on the success of sponges in diverse ecological niches.
水平基因转移（HGT）在原核生物和吞噬性真核生物之间很常见。在后生动物中，HGT的规模和意义在很大程度上仍未被探索，但通常与与寄生虫和内共生体的密切关联有关。海洋海绵（多孔动物门）在其组织中容纳许多微生物且缺乏隔离的种系，是从原核生物转移而来的基因的潜在载体。在本研究中，我们在昆士兰扁海绵（Amphimedon queenslandica）的基因组中鉴定出了一些潜在的水平转移基因。我们进一步在其他海绵中鉴定出了其中一些基因的同源物。这些转移的基因，其中大多数对碳水化合物或蛋白质代谢具有催化活性，已经同化了宿主基因组特征并被积极表达。水平转移基因所贡献的功能多样性可能是昆士兰扁海绵适应和进化的一个重要因素。这些发现突出了HGT对海绵在不同生态位中成功生存的潜在重要性。
