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

Researchers find evidence of antibiotic resistance genes in the DNA of viruses that infect bacteria.

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.

Meet some of the people featured in the October 2016 issue of The Scientist

Bacteria inhabit most tissues in the human body, and genes from some of these microbes have made their way to the human genome. Could this genetic transfer contribute to diseases such as cancer?

DNA transfer is a regular event among bacteria, and research over the past decade has shown that microbes can also shuttle their genetic material to multicellular hosts.

In lab experiments, bacteria usurp small, damaged fragments of DNA, including those from a 43,000-year-old woolly mammoth.  

Bacteriophages shuttle genes between diverse ecosystems.

Meet some of the people featured in the September 2013 issue of The Scientist.

From therapeutics to gene transfer, bacteriophages offer a sustainable and powerful method of controlling microbes.