title: Extensive Inter-Domain Lateral Gene Transfer in the Evolution of the Human Commensal Methanosphaera stadtmanae.
abstract: Methanosphaera stadtmanae is a commensal methanogenic archaeon found in the human gut. As most of its niche-neighbors are bacteria, it is expected that lateral gene transfer (LGT) from bacteria might have contributed to the evolutionary history of this organism. We performed a phylogenomic survey of putative LGT events in M. stadtmanae, using a phylogenetic pipeline. Our analysis indicates that a substantial fraction of the proteins of M. stadtmanae are inferred to have been involved in inter-domain LGT. Laterally acquired genes have had a large contribution to surface functions, by providing novel glycosyltransferase functions. In addition, several ABC transporters seem to be of bacterial origin, including the molybdate transporter. Thus, bacterial genes contributed to the adaptation of M. stadtmanae to a host-dependent lifestyle by allowing a larger variation in surface structures and increasing transport efficiency in the gut niche which is diverse and competitive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Mor Nadia
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Lurie-Weinberger
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peeri
authors.forename: Tamir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tuller
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Gophna