Categorie(s)

• Congrès

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) (Freeman, 1951; Syvanen, 1996) is the transfer and/or exchange of genetic material largely between micro-organisms. It is ubiquitous in nature and occurs independently of reproduction.

There are five possible natural mechanisms by which HGT takes place, namely transformation, transduction, conjugation and the more recently discovered gene transfer agents (GTA) (McDaniel, 2010) and membrane vesicles transfer (MVT) (Gaudin, 2012). Invariably, all five transfer mechanisms have been thought to be involved in HGT in all three domains, archaea, bacteria and eucaryotes.

The idea that HGT was occurring at the time of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) was first suggested by Forterre (2010) and evidence is mounting to support this hypothesis. The discussion scope of this conference is extensive enough so as to encompass all five mechanisms mentioned above as well as other areas of research, such as the main hypotheses relating to the origins of life.

To ensure we present a wide variety of stimulating information, we are calling for short abstracts and/or posters from the following disciplines: virologists, bacteriologists, microbiologists, geneticists, biochemists, chemists, geochemists, astrochemists, astrobiologists and evolutionary biologists.