DNA has been known to derail from one species to another in a phenomenon called horizontal transfer . Sometimes , the DNA of parasites will jump into the genome of their hosts , and evidence of this host - parasite interaction can be preserve for millions of age . Researchers study the genome of fowl have discovered the " DNA fossil " of a parasitic roundworm that , at least nowadays , taint only mammals . The findings were put out inNature Communicationslast week .
diminished stretchability of deoxyribonucleic acid that can chute around from one position to another are called transposable element . Bird flu and HIV / AIDS , for illustration , are know to have jumped into our species from their original brute hosts . Lymphatic filariasis(better cognize as elephantiasis ) andloiasis(or African eye worm ) are tropical human disease that affect 170 million mass . We know they ’re cause by the nematode wormsBrugia , Wuchereria , andLoa , which are diffuse by mosquito , but their ancestral host range is still nameless .
A couple years ago , a squad lead by Uppsala University’sAlexander Suhdiscovered a novel type of transposable constituent that come about in certain boo genome but not others . They call it AviRTE . Curiously , the phylogeny of AviRTE succession did n’t jibe the bird evolutionary family tree – suggesting that AviRTE likely originate in a non - avian genome and had jumped to birds multiple times .
" We made a leaning of all the potential parasite of bird that might be in a position to transfer their DNA to the germ line cubicle of birds . We started trying to amplify AviRTE from parasite sample , without any luck , " study co - authorChristopher Wittfrom the University of New Mexico told IFLScience . " Then in conclusion , Alex struck atomic number 79 by witness AviRTE in a published nematode genome . "
ground on their desoxyribonucleic acid database lookup , the only other animals that partake this newly discovered transposable element are nematode worms that parasitize mammalian today , admit humans . The squad then analyzed DNA sequence variance among all AviRTE copy from roundworm and birds .
" DNA fossils " of the worms were found in seven dissimilar groups of raspberry spanning all of the tropics : trogons , mesites , parrots , hummingbirds , hornbill , mannikin , and tinamous ( pictured above ) . Furthermore , the horizontal transfer between louse and razzing in the tropics occurred in two sequence : around 25 to 22 million year ago take theBrugiaandWuchererialineages and around 20 to 17 million years ago with theLoalineage .
But AviRTE is not found in mammalian genome . " The fact that there are no AviRTEs in mammals suggests that these worms did not parasitize mammals at that sentence when it was actively ' jumping , ' " Witt added . " Now they do taint mammal , and they ’re a major public health problem for tropical humans . "
