ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2022
Horizontally Acquired Cellulases Assist the Expansion of Dietary Range in Pristionchus Nematodes.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Paralogous guanine deaminases acquired from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer promote purine homeostasis inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A multi-omics approach reveals that the plant-parasitic nematodeParasitology · 2026Article
- From Waste to Wealth: Unlocking the Potential of Cellulase Characteristics for Food Processing Waste Management.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Inferring the Selective History of CNVs Using a Maximum Likelihood Model.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Genomic evidence for the widespread presence of GH45 cellulases among soil invertebrates.Molecular ecology · 2024Article
- Microbiota succession influences nematode physiology in a beetle microcosm ecosystem.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Thousands of Pristionchus pacificus orphan genes were integrated into developmental networks that respond to diverse environmental microbiota.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- Cross-phyla protein annotation by structural prediction and alignment.Genome biology · 2023Article
- Article
- Multidimensional competition of nematodes affects plastic traits in a beetle ecosystem.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Genomic integration of transgenes using UV irradiation inmicroPublication biology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) enables the acquisition of novel traits via non-Mendelian inheritance of genetic material. HGT plays a prominent role in the evolution of prokaryotes, whereas in animals, HGT is rare and its functional significance is often uncertain. Here, we investigate horizontally acquired cellulase genes in the free-living nematode model organism Pristionchus pacificus. We show that these cellulase genes 1) are likely of eukaryotic origin, 2) are expressed, 3) have protein products that are secreted and functional, and 4) result in endo-cellulase activity. Using CRISPR/Cas9, we generated an octuple cellulase mutant, which lacks all eight cellulase genes and cellulase activity altogether. Nonetheless, this cellulase-null mutant is viable and therefore allows a detailed analysis of a gene family that was horizontally acquired. We show that the octuple cellulase mutant has associated fitness costs with reduced fecundity and slower developmental speed. Furthermore, by using various Escherichia coli K-12 strains as a model for cellulosic biofilms, we demonstrate that cellulases facilitate the procurement of nutrients from bacterial biofilms. Together, our analysis of cellulases in Pristionchus provides comprehensive evidence from biochemistry, genetics, and phylogeny, which supports the integration of horizontally acquired genes into the complex life history strategy of this soil nematode.
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