Claims that hundreds of bacterial genes have been transferred directly into humans are unfounded, according to a study published in June 21 Nature. The initial report by the International Human Genome ...

Microorganisms produce a wide variety of natural products that can be used as active ingredients to treat diseases such as infections or cancer. The blueprints for these molecules can be found in the ...

In contrast to humans, bacteria have the remarkable ability to exchange genetic material with each other. A well-known example with far-reaching consequences is the transfer of antibiotic resistance ...

The problem of antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) pollution in the environment has become one of the most severe public health ...

New research shows that one fruit fly species contains whole genomes of a kind of bacteria, making this finding the largest bacteria-to-animal transfer of genetic material ever discovered. The new ...

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important factor in bacterial evolution that can act across species boundaries. Yet, we know little about rate and genomic targets of cross-lineage gene transfer ...

A recent study has unveiled how plants and bacteria exchange genes to boost plant health and development. The team discovered 75 genes that were transferred between small, fast-growing plants ...

James Chappell, associate professor of biosciences and bioengineering at Rice University. In the microscopic world of bacteria, gene transfer is a powerful mechanism that can alter cellular function, ...

Your gut bacteria need vitamin B12 just as much as you do. Though DNA is usually passed from parent to child, new research shows gut bacteria transfer genes through "sex" in order to take their ...