7. BACTERIOLOGY

摘要

Although lateral gene transfer (LGT) events have been frequently documented in the evolution of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehy-drogenase (GAPDH), no eukaryote-to-prokaryote transfer has been reported so far. Here we describe the first case of the GAPDH gene transfer from a eukaryote to a subset of Clostridium species (Bacteria, Firmicutes). A series of phylogenetic analyses of GAPDH homologues revealed that Clostridium thermocellum and Clostridium cellulolyticum homologues have the evolutionary affinity to the eukaryotic homologues, rather than to those of bacterial species closely related to the two Clostridium species in the organismal phylogeny.