The Importance of Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Evolution of Life

Saturday, February 16, 2013
Room 308 (Hynes Convention Center)
William Martin , Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
In micro-organisms, lateral or horizontal gene transfer occurs through processes such as bacterial conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Such horizontal transfers are often not depicted in tree of life imagery. My talk will focus on how phylogenomic network models enable the modeling of lateral gene transfer in a variety of taxa.