Identification and categorization of horizontally transferred genes in prokaryotic genomes

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), a process through which genomes acquire genetic materials from distantly related organisms, is believed to be one of the major forces in prokaryotic genome evolution. However, systematic investigation is still scarce to clarify two basic issues about HGT: (1) what types of genes are transferred; and (2) what influence HGT events over the organization and evolution of biological pathways. Genome-scale investigations of these two issues will advance the systematical understanding of HGT in the context of prokaryotic genome evolution. Having investigated 82 genomes, we constructed an HGT database across broad evolutionary timescales. We identified four function categories containing a high proportion of horizontally transferred genes: cell envelope, energy metabolism, regulatory functions, and transport/binding proteins. Such biased function distribution indicates that HGT is not completely random; instead, it is under high selective pressure, required by function restraints in organisms. Furthermore, we mapped the transferred genes onto the connectivity structure map of organism-specific pathways listed in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Our results suggest that recruitment of transferred genes into pathways is also selectively constrained because of the tuned interaction between original pathway members. Pathway organization structures still conserve well through evolution even with the recruitment of horizontally transferred genes. Interestingly, in pathways whose organization were significantly affected by HGT events, the operon-like arrangement of transferred genes was found to be prevalent. Such results suggest that operon plays an essential and directional role in the integration of alien genes into pathways.