The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have discovered a new secret that might provide further understanding of the genetic code. They have identified a novel method through which the typical ocean microorganisms, which produce the oxygen in the seas, exchange genetic material.
Even when they are geographically far apart, Prochlorococcus bacteria, one of the smallest organisms found throughout the oceans, share genetic material with one another. It is well known that these bacteria can adapt to and diversify in a wide range of conditions. Its underlying process is still a mystery, though.
In a study published in the journal Cell, researchers have described a new class of genetic agents involved in horizontal gene transfer, in which genetic information is passed directly between organisms — whether of the same or different species. Researchers noted that the horizontal gene transfer accelerates microbial evolution and that there is a common mechanism for microbial diversification in the vast oligotrophic oceans.
The agent that carries out this gene transfer has been named tycheposons, sequences of DNA that can include several entire genes as well as surrounding sequences and can spontaneously separate out from the surrounding DNA.
The team studied hundreds of Prochlorococcus genomes from different ecosystems around the world, as well as lab-grown samples of different variants.
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