HGT of Human Junk DNA is more prevalent than originally thought


Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) acts outside of neo-Darwinism. Neo-Darwinism is the modern synthesis of evolution, which combines Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection with Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance. HGT is the transfer of genes between organisms that are not closely related, such as between bacteria or between viruses and their hosts. This can happen through a variety of mechanisms, such as conjugation, transformation, and transduction.

HGT can have a significant impact on evolution. It can introduce new genes into a population. HGT can also speed up the evolution of a population by allowing genes to spread more quickly between individuals.

Neo-Darwinism does not account for HGT, as it assumes that evolution only occurs through mutations and natural selection within a population. However, HGT is now known to be a common occurrence in nature, and it is estimated that up to 50% of genes in some bacterial genomes have been acquired through HGT.

As a result, HGT is now considered to be an important part of evolution. It can help to explain the rapid evolution of some organisms, such as bacteria, and it can also help to explain the similarities between organisms that are not closely related.

This article "Widespread of horizontal gene transfer in the human genome" by Wenze Huang et al. (2017) discusses this phenomenon in humans.

Background

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the movement of genetic material between organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). HGT is thought to be a major driving force of evolution, and it has been found to be widespread in prokaryotes, but it is generally thought to be rare in eukaryotes.

The study

The study by Huang et al. (2017) investigated the extent of HGT in the human genome. The authors used a variety of methods to identify regions of the human genome that were more similar to non-mammals than to other mammals. They identified 1,467 such regions, which collectively contain 2.6 million base pairs and 642 known genes. These genes are enriched for ion binding, suggesting that they may be involved in functions such as metabolism and immunity.

The authors also compared their findings to known regions of the human genome that are thought to have been acquired by HGT. They found that only a small fraction (11%) of the newly identified regions overlapped with known HGT regions. This suggests that HGT is more common in the human genome than previously thought, and that many HGT events have gone undetected. These areas were thought to be Junk DNA.

The implications

The findings of this study have several implications. First, they suggest that HGT has played a more significant role in the evolution of the human genome than previously thought. Second, they suggest that there may be many genes in the human genome that have functions that are not well understood, and that these genes may have been acquired by HGT. Third, the study provides new insights into the mechanisms of HGT in eukaryotes.

Future research

The study by Huang et al. (2017) is an important first step in understanding the extent of HGT in the human genome. However, there are still many unanswered questions. For example, it is not clear how HGT events are mediated in eukaryotes, and what are the selective pressures that favor the acquisition of foreign genes. Future research is needed to address these questions and to further our understanding of the role of HGT in human evolution.

In addition to the future research questions mentioned above, there are a few other things that could be done to further the study of HGT in the human genome. One would be to use a wider variety of methods to identify HGT regions. The methods used by Huang et al. (2017) were relatively conservative, and it is possible that there are other regions of the human genome that have been acquired by HGT but that were not identified in this study.

Another thing that could be done is to study the functions of the genes (Junk DNA) that have been acquired by HGT. This would help us to understand the impact of HGT on human evolution and development. Finally, it would be interesting to study the mechanisms by which HGT is mediated in eukaryotes. This would help us to understand how foreign genes are able to integrate into the host genome and to become functional.

Overall, the study by Huang et al. (2017) is an important contribution to our understanding of HGT in the human genome. The findings of this study suggest that HGT has played a more significant role in human evolution than previously thought. Future research is needed to further our understanding of the role of HGT in human evolution and development.


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