ArticleeLife2014
Antibacterial gene transfer across the tree of life.
Article in eLife, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Lysozyme as a natural feed additive in poultry and rabbit production: implications for growth, health and sustainability - a review.Tropical animal health and production · 2026Review
- An Evolutionarily Conserved Laterally Acquired Toolkit Enables Microbiota Targeting by Trichomonas.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Archaea appropriate weaponry to breach the bacterial cell wall.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Archaea produce peptidoglycan hydrolases that kill bacteria.PLoS biology · 2025Article
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- Acquired stress resilience through bacteria-to-nematode interdomain horizontal gene transfer.The EMBO journal · 2023Article
- TheApplied and environmental microbiology · 2023Article
- NlpC/P60 peptidoglycan hydrolases of Trichomonas vaginalis have complementary activities that empower the protozoan to control host-protective lactobacilli.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Virus-like Particles fromInsects · 2023Article
- Diverse functional genes harboured in extracellular vesicles from environmental and human microbiota.Journal of extracellular vesicles · 2022Article
- Discovery of integrons in Archaea: Platforms for cross-domain gene transfer.Science advances · 2022Article
- Elucidation of host and symbiont contributions to peptidoglycan metabolism based on comparative genomics of eight aphid subfamilies and their Buchnera.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Horizontal Transfer of Microbial Toxin Genes to Gall Midge Genomes.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Horizontal Gene Transfers in Plants.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Targeting the Achilles' Heel of Bacteria: Different Mechanisms To Break Down the Peptidoglycan Cell Wall during Bacterial Warfare.Journal of bacteriology · 2021Review
- Horizontally acquired antibacterial genes associated with adaptive radiation of ladybird beetles.BMC biology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Though horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is widespread, genes and taxa experience biased rates of transferability. Curiously, independent transmission of homologous DNA to archaea, bacteria, eukaryotes, and viruses is extremely rare and often defies ecological and functional explanations. Here, we demonstrate that a bacterial lysozyme family integrated independently in all domains of life across diverse environments, generating the only glycosyl hydrolase 25 muramidases in plants and archaea. During coculture of a hydrothermal vent archaeon with a bacterial competitor, muramidase transcription is upregulated. Moreover, recombinant lysozyme exhibits broad-spectrum antibacterial action in a dose-dependent manner. Similar to bacterial transfer of antibiotic resistance genes, transfer of a potent antibacterial gene across the universal tree seemingly bestows a niche-transcending adaptation that trumps the barriers against parallel HGT to all domains. The discoveries also comprise the first characterization of an antibacterial gene in archaea and support the pursuit of antibiotics in this underexplored group.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.