title: Horizontal functional gene transfer from bacteria to fishes.
abstract: Invertebrates can acquire functional genes via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from bacteria but fishes are not known to do so. We provide the first reliable evidence of one HGT event from marine bacteria to fishes. The HGT appears to have occurred after emergence of the teleosts. The transferred gene is expressed and regulated developmentally. Its successful integration and expression may change the genetic and metabolic repertoire of fishes. In addition, this gene contains conserved domains and similar tertiary structures in fishes and their putative donor bacteria. Thus, it may function similarly in both groups. Evolutionary analyses indicate that it evolved under purifying selection, further indicating its conserved function. We document the first likely case of HGT of functional gene from prokaryote to fishes. This discovery certifies that HGT can influence vertebrate evolution.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.|CAS Key Laboratory of Genomics and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Bao-Fa
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Protection, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Ling-Yi
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Network &Information Center, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Shun-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.|College of Plant Protection, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an, Shandong 271018, China.
authors.forename: Da-Wei
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D010802:Phylogeny; D020161:Physical Chromosome Mapping; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013045:Species Specificity; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics