Lateral Gene Transfer: Genomic Recruitment, Integration, and Persistence

Evolution usually proceeds through vertical inheritance, where genetic information is transmitted from parents to offspring and gradually altered by mutation and recombination. Organisms can also occasionally acquire new genes directly from other species through lateral gene transfer (LGT). In bacteria, this process is a major evolutionary force, yet in plants it is still poorly understood. Striking examples show that they can acquire entire genes from distant relatives, sometimes gaining important functions. However, most of what we know comes from isolated case studies, and we still lack a quantitative framework to explain how often LGT happens and which factors determine whether foreign genes persist or disappear. The goal of this project is to estimate the true rate and fitness effects of LGT insertions. I will sequence thousands of individuals from a wild grass known to have acquired foreign genes and track how frequently each transferred gene is found in natural populations. Using pangenomics, I will integrate those frequencies with different features of the transferred fragments to explain variance in gene acquisition and retention. This project will provide the first quantitative estimates of how frequent, harmful, or beneficial LGTs are in plant populations, and identify the conditions that make foreign genes succeed. This will transform our understanding of LGT as a predictable evolutionary process with direct implications for plant evolution, crop improvement, and biotechnology.