Their relocation explains horizontal genome transfer first described more than a decade ago.

Rather than introducing small chunks of DNA as other viruses do, some giant viruses can contribute more than 1 million base pairs to a host’s genome, broadening the ways in which viruses may shape eukaryote evolution.

Plants, fungi, and bacteria likely contributed to insect diversity.

An analysis suggests that DNA cribbed from soil microbes enabled plants’ ancestors to colonize a terrestrial environment.

A re-analysis of sequencing data from a 2016 study of these tiny metazoans reveals possible contamination, rather than an exchange of DNA among species.

Rather than getting a gene for its original function, a horizontal gene transfer provides the raw material for evolutionary innovation.

The presence of similar light-emitting enzymes in the distantly related organisms lends new insight into bioluminescence evolution.

The plant Lophophytum pilfers mitochondrial genes from the species it parasitizes.

In the DNA of the WO phage, which infects arthropod-inhabiting Wolbachia, researchers find sequences related to a black widow spider’s toxin and other animal genes.