Ep 10: Tangling the Tree of Life
Big Biology
00:00
Horizontal Gene Transfer
Genetic information is supposed to move vertically from ancestors to descendants, whether it's single celled life like bacteria replicating themselves by fission or in complex creatures by sexual reproduction. But scientists began discovering that it's not the only way. There are also these events when genetic material moves sideways from one creature into another and it became known as a horizontal gene transfer. This tends to happen by infective processes, infection, rather than by parenthood. It has been consequential for humans, as well as for a lot of other organisms.
Transcript
Play full episode
