Seminar series on The Evolution of Genomic Architecture - Eduardo Rocha: Horizontal transfer: from gene acquisition to functional innovation
- Date: Jan 21, 2020
- Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Eduardo Rocha from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France
- For more information about the speaker, please see here: https://research.pasteur.fr/en/member/eduardo-rocha/
- Location: MPI Plön
- Room: Lecture hall
- Host: Jenna Gallie & Julien Dutheil
Abstract:
Evolutionary processes are
typically described as the result of mutation, descent and selection.
Many microbes lack sexual reproduction but have the ability to acquire
genetic information from very distantly related organisms. Horizontal
gene transfer allows the instantaneous acquisition of new complex
adaptive traits and their transmission to subsequent generations. This
speeds up evolutionary processes as exemplified by the acquisition of
virulence traits in emerging infectious agents and by antibiotic
resistance in many human bacterial pathogens. In this talk, I'll
describe how bacteria control and organize the influx of novel genetic
information, and how this results not only in the spread of adaptive
functions, but also on radical functional innovation.