title: Lateral and oblique gene transfer.
abstract: Sequence information from complete genomes, and from multiple loci of strains within species, is transforming the way that we investigate the evolution of bacteria. Such large-scale assessments of bacterial genomes have provided evidence of extensive gene transfer and exchange. Except in rare cases, these two processes do not seem to be coupled: certain species, such as Escherichia coli, undergo relatively low levels of gene exchange; but the emergence of pathogenic strains is associated with the acquisition of numerous virulence factors by lateral gene transfer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0088, USA. hochman@email.arizona.edu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ochman
mesh_terms: D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D013045:Species Specificity; D014774:Virulence