Large-scale investigation of species-specific orphan genes in the human gut microbiome elucidates their evolutionary origins
Nikolaos Vakirlis,
Anne Kupczok
Abstract:Species-specific genes, also known as orphans, are ubiquitous across life's domains. In prokaryotes, species-specific orphan genes (SSOGs) are mostly thought to originate in external elements such as viruses followed by horizontal gene transfer, whereas the scenario of native origination, through rapid divergence or de novo, is mostly dismissed. However, quantitative evidence supporting either scenario is lacking. Here, we systematically analyzed genomes from 4644 human gut microbiome species and identified mo… Show more
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