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Novel statistical tests for horizontal gene transferdiscovery

Nature published a discovery about the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of primitive microbes called archaea. David Bryant of Otago's Department of Mathematics and Statistics helped design novel statistical tests for the study.

“These results shift the balance in our ideas about microbial evolution. We had known about these gene transfers for some time. What we didn't appreciate was how they were responsible for such a huge part of microbial evolution,” he says.

Primitive microbes stole bacterial genes on a surprising scale University of Otago media release, October 2014

Origins of major archaeal clades correspond to gene acquisitions from bacteria Nature.com website

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