title: Horizontal gene transfer: accidental inheritance drives adaptation.
abstract: Few facts in biology are more certain than offspring inheriting genetic material from their parents, but not all genes are acquired this way. A new report documents the horizontal transfer of a potentially adaptive gene between distantly related plants.
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Electronic address: endymion.dante.cooper@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Endymion D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Cooper
mesh_terms: D044002:Bryophyta / Q000235:genetics*; D029624:Ferns / Q000235:genetics*; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D055519:Photoreceptors, Plant