# Horizontal gene transfer as a source of evolutionary innovation in metazoans

> **NIH NIH R01** · MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY · 2020 · $328,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The role of horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotic evolution remains one of the most hotly debated topics in
evolutionary biology. While several claims of massive horizontal transfer in eukaryotes have been disproven in
recent years, rotifers of the class Bdelloidea, with 8-10% of their genes coming from non-metazoan sources,
remain the only metazoan taxon that withstands the scrutiny. Our work has confirmed the presence and
functionality of a non-canonical system of epigenetic modification of bacterial origin, capable of introducing
bacterial modification marks into eukaryotic DNA. Further, we identified genes of foreign origin that may serve
as potential sources of diversification in the expanded system of secondary metabolism. Finally, with
desiccation no longer suspected as the leading reason defining the unusual ability of bdelloids to capture
foreign genetic material, we are investigating novel types of giant transposable elements that may have
participated in gene transfer. These lines of investigation will be pursued and combined to uncover the
complex evolutionary history of foreign gene acquisition and diversification in this exceptional metazoan taxon,
and to better understand how the barriers preventing such acquisition in most eukaryotic taxa can occasionally
be broken in selected branches of the metazoan tree of life.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9944568
- **Project number:** 5R01GM111917-07
- **Recipient organization:** MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY
- **Principal Investigator:** Irina Arkhipova
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $328,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-08-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9944568

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9944568, Horizontal gene transfer as a source of evolutionary innovation in metazoans (5R01GM111917-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9944568. Licensed CC0.

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