Jun 8, 2012 Parasitic Plants Steal Genes from Their Hosts
Vertical gene transfer is that between parents and their
offspring, while horizontal gene transfer is the movement of
genes between two different organisms. Bacteria use horizontal
gene transfer to exchange resistance to antibiotics. Recent
studies have shown that plants can also use horizontal gene
transfer, especially parasitic plants and their hosts due to
their intimate physical connections. Rafflesia cantleyi is an
obligate holoparasite (dependent on its host, and only that
host, for sustenance), which grows on Tetrastigma rafflesiae, a
member of the grape family. Researchers from Singapore, Malaysia
and USA collaborated to systematically investigate the
possibility of horizontal gene transfer between these two
plants. By looking at the transcriptome (the transcribed
products of switched on genes) they found 49 genes transcribed
by the parasite, accounting for 2% of their total transcriptome,
which originally belonged to the host. Three quarters o