Lateral Thinking.(gene transfer between species)(Brief Article)

Gene transfer between species likeliest in microorganisms

This 1999 paper from the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md., greatly strengthens the case for the lateral transfer of genes from one species to another as a widespread phenomenon in the microbial world. But last month, to much media fanfare, TIGR reported that bacteria-to-human gene transfer is far less likely than what the publicly funded Human Genome Project postulated earlier this year.[1] The debate is important because gene transfer from a prokaryote to a multicelled eukaryote would occur through the germ line, thus transforming itself into an inherited effect.

TIGR president Claire M. Fraser, …