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. 2011 Feb 8;21(3):R112-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.12.036.

Cell evolution: gene transfer agents and the origin of mitochondria

Thomas A Richards  1 , John M Archibald
Affiliations
Free article

Cell evolution: gene transfer agents and the origin of mitochondria

Thomas A Richards et al. Curr Biol. .
Free article

Abstract

Recently, α-proteobacteria have been shown to possess virus-like gene transfer agents that facilitate high frequency gene transfer in natural environments between distantly related lineages. This system could have driven the genomic integration of the mitochondrial progenitor and its proto-eukaryote host and contributed to the evolutionary mosaic of genes seen in modern-day prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes.

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