Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany; email:
Annu Rev Genet. 2017 Nov 27;51:1-22. doi: 10.1146/annurev-genet-120215-035329. Epub 2017 Aug 28.
Present day mitochondria and plastids (chloroplasts) evolved from formerly free-living bacteria that were acquired through endosymbiosis more than a billion years ago. Conversion of the bacterial endosymbionts into cell organelles involved the massive translocation of genetic material from the organellar genomes to the nucleus. The development of transformation technologies for organellar genomes has made it possible to reconstruct this endosymbiotic gene transfer in laboratory experiments and study the mechanisms involved. Recently, the horizontal transfer of genetic information between organisms has also become amenable to experimental investigation. It led to the discovery of horizontal genome transfer as an asexual process generating new species and new combinations of nuclear and organellar genomes. This review describes experimental approaches towards studying endosymbiotic and horizontal gene transfer processes, discusses the new knowledge gained from these approaches about both the evolutionary significance of gene transfer and the underlying molecular mechanisms, and highlights exciting possibilities to exploit gene and genome transfer in biotechnology and synthetic biology.
现今的线粒体和质体（叶绿体）是由 10 多亿年前通过内共生作用而获得的曾经自由生活的细菌演化而来的。细菌内共生体转化为细胞器涉及大量的遗传物质从细胞器基因组转移到细胞核。细胞器基因组转化技术的发展使得在实验室实验中重建这种内共生基因转移并研究相关机制成为可能。最近，生物体之间遗传信息的水平转移也可以进行实验研究。这导致发现了水平基因转移作为一种无性过程，产生新的物种和核基因组与细胞器基因组的新组合。本文描述了研究内共生和水平基因转移过程的实验方法，讨论了从这些方法中获得的关于基因转移的进化意义和潜在分子机制的新知识，并强调了利用生物技术和合成生物学中的基因和基因组转移的令人兴奋的可能性。
