I just think the lesson is that DNA really gets around. —Nancy Moran, University of Texas at Austin If Li had been studying bacteria, finding this kind of lateral or horizontal gene transfer (HGT) ...

Critics of agricultural biotechnology have often been dismissed as modern-day Luddites. However, these critics have an understandable concern, based on a detail of the technology that has been ...

Christie is a seasoned science journalist and cell and molecular biology PhD; her debut book Venomous: How Earth’s Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry, received widespread acclaim. She was a ...

"We were also able to demonstrate that horizontal gene transfer, a phenomenon that describes the incorporation of foreign genes from bacteria into the genome, is quite common in leaf beetles.

Key findings highlight the role of horizontal gene transfer, the incorporation of foreign bacterial genetic material into the beetle genome, which is thought to be the result of earlier symbioses.

"We were also able to demonstrate that horizontal gene transfer, a phenomenon that describes the incorporation of foreign genes from bacteria into the genome, is quite common in leaf beetles.

Instead, the gene is located on a conserved genetic segment within the plasmids, indicating potential horizontal transfer ...