First Report of Horizontal Gene Transfer Between Plant and Animal

Recommendable! Nature is full of surprises! We still know very little!

This research may hint at new ways of pest control in agriculture!

"... The gene, BtPMaT1, protects the insects from phenolic glycosides, toxins that many plants produce to defend themselves against such pests, thus allowing the whiteflies to feast. ..."

"... Plants protect themselves with a vast array of toxic secondary metabolites, yet most plants serve as food for insects. [Is this not ironic!] The evolutionary processes that allow herbivorous insects to resist plant defenses remain largely unknown. ... Here, we show that, through an exceptional horizontal gene transfer event, the whitefly has acquired the plant-derived phenolic glucoside malonyltransferase gene BtPMaT1. This gene enables whiteflies to neutralize phenolic glucosides. This was confirmed by genetically transforming tomato plants to produce small interfering RNAs that silence BtPMaT1, thus impairing the whiteflies’ detoxification ability. ..."

First Report of Horizontal Gene Transfer Between Plant and Animal | The Scientist Magazine® Whiteflies overcome a toxin in plants they eat through the use of the plant’s own genetic protection, likely ferried from plant to insect millions of years ago by a virus

Here is the link to the underlying research article:

Whitefly hijacks a plant detoxification gene that neutralizes plant toxins