Since the origin of the animal kingdom, marine animals have lived in association with viruses, prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes, often as symbionts. This long and continuous interaction has provided ample opportunity not only for the evolution of intimate interactions such as sharing of metabolic pathways, but also for horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of non-metazoan genes into metazoan genomes. The number of demonstrated cases of inter-kingdom HGT is currently small, such that it is not yet widely appreciated as a significant player in animal evolution. Sessile marine invertebrates that vertically inherit bacterial symbionts, that have no dedicated germ line, or that bud or excise pluripotent somatic cells during their life history may be particularly receptive to HGT from their symbionts. Closer scrutiny of the growing number of genomes being accrued for these animals may thus reveal HGT as a regular source of novel variation that can function to extend the host phenotype metabolically, morphologically, or even behaviorally. Taxonomic identification of symbionts will help to address the intriguing question of whether past HGT events may constrain contemporary symbioses.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
1
1%
Other
5
6%
Unknown
12
14%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 September 2017.
All research outputs
#7,542,624
of 23,173,635 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Microbiology
#8,157
of 25,412 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#108,306
of 364,664 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Microbiology
#90
of 190 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,173,635 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 67th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 25,412 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 67% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 364,664 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 190 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its contemporaries.
