title: Evolutionary change and phylogenetic relationships in light of horizontal gene transfer.
abstract: Horizontal gene transfer has, over the past 25 years, become a part of evolutionary thinking. In the present paper I discuss horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in relation to contingency, natural selection, evolutionary change speed and the Tree-of-Life endeavour, with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the role of HGT in evolutionary processes. In addition, the challenges that HGT imposes on the current view of evolution are emphasized.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Evolutiva, Museo Nacional Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, C/ Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain, mcnb119@mncn.csic.es.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boto
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000235:genetics