Microorganisms such as bacteria enjoy swapping genes, and the trades have made a big difference in how they've evolved. Now new research suggests that bacteria are also easygoing about passing genes on to more complex organisms. The findings have researchers rethinking the prevalence of interspecies gene transfer and its role in evolution; they may also change the way geneticists filter out bacterial "contamination" when they sequence a new genome.
Fukatsu calls the paper "exciting" but questions whether the Wolbachia genes are active because they didn't display any biological function. However, if future experiments confirm that expression really is occurring, he adds that it's an "unprecedented insight" into the process of evolution.
