In their Research article -- Antibacterial gene transfer across the tree of life-- Metcalf et al. study a gene that first arose in bacteria and that encodes an enzyme called a lysozyme. This enzyme breaks down the outer casing of a bacterial cell: a step that is required for a bacterium to reproduce and divide in two. When Metcalf et al. searched for relatives of the lysozyme gene, they found copies in many other species of bacteria and revealed that this gene has been repeatedly transferred between different bacteria. Members of the lysozyme gene family have also ‘jumped out’ of bacteria and into other organisms at least four times. Metcalf et al. found related lysozyme genes in a plant, an insect, many species of fungi, and a single-celled microbe (called an archaeon) that lives at hot, deep-sea vents.
Examples of the media covereage recieved by this study can be found below;
