Lateral genetic transfer and cellular networks

Abstract

Each step in the temporal process of lateral genetic transfer (LGT) presents barriers and biases that, together with contingent processes in the environment, determine the success of transfer events. Appropriate interaction with existing host systems, together with regulated expression of gene products, are particularly important for the long-term establishment of transferred DNA. Large datasets of biological interactions can be abstracted to construct graphical abstractions of cellular networks. Phyletic distributions and other metadata can then be mapped onto these networks to examine hypotheses of network properties that contribute to successful LGT. Here we examine the organising principles that govern the integration of laterally transferred DNA with existing host cellular networks.