Crossing Super-Kingdom Barriers

Usedtabe, diseases could not cross species barriers, never mind kingdom barriers. Now, they're crossing super-kingdom barriers.

...Some of you may remember my fascination with the actin protein, and its potential power if misfolded...


www.f1000biology.com...

Hidden Jewel: Are eukaryotic genes spreading in prokaryotic populations?

Two Faculty Members have selected for evaluation a paper identifying a surprising case of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of eukaryotic cytoskeletal proteins to a prokaryotic cyanobacterium.

Mohan Balasubramanian (National University of Singapore, Singapore), a Faculty of 1000 Biology Member for Cell Biology, remarks: "This is the first report of a true actin (i.e. not MreB or ParM related) in a bacterium".

Debashish Bhattacharya (University of Iowa, USA), a Genomics & Genetics Faculty Member, also commented on the paper, saying: "The fact that this rare direction of transfer was detected in a cultivated sample and in limited analyses of natural extracts suggests that eukaryote to prokaryote HGT may occur more frequently in nature than previously thought."

FYI - There are six kingdoms of living things, divided into two major groups or super-kingdoms called Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes.

The Six Kingdoms of Life



Life goes on. lol