Table 1

Examples of horizontally transferred operons

Operon
Recipient organism and correspondent genes
Probable source
Other probable recipients
Comment

Operon acquisition
Pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase
Thermotoga maritima TM0015-TM0018
Archaea
Aae, Hpy, Bha/Sau
Apparently, the related operon for 2-oxoisovalerate oxidoreductase (TM1758-TM1759) was also transferred from archaea
Sulfate/molybdate transport
Bacillus halodurans BH3128-BH3130
Gram-negative bacteria
-
No other such operons in Bacillus-Clostridium group members
Putative effector of murein hydrolase
Pyrococcus horikoshii PH1801-PH1802
Bacteria
Pab, Mac

Allophanate hydrolase subunits
Pyrococcus horikoshii PH0987-PH0988
Bacteria
Pab






Paralogous operon acquisition
Dipeptide transporter
Vibrio cholerae VC0620-VC0616
Thermotoga/Archaea
Tma
It has several another bacterial operons including VC1091-VC1095
Ribonucleotide reductase alpha and beta subunit
Halobacterium sp. VNG2384G VNG2383G
Bacteria
-
Additional to "archaeal:" Ribonucleotide reductase alpha subunit VNG1644G, beta subunit is apparently lost
Aromatic amino-acid biosynthesis
Halobacterium sp. VNG0384G VNG0386G
Bacteria
-
Paralogs of this pair are VNG1646G-VNG1647G





Xenologous operon displacement
Histidine biosynthesis suboperon
Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA3151-PA3152
Epsilon-Proteobacteria
-

Panthothenate synthesis
Campylobacter jejuni Cj0297c-Cj0298c
Gram-positive bacteria
-

DNA repair SbcDC
Vibrio cholerae VCA0520-VCA0521
Gram-positive bacteria
-

DNA gyrase A and B
Halobacterium sp. VNG0887G-VNG0889G
Bacteria
Hbs, Tac, Tvo, Afu,

Dipeptide transporter
Streptococcus pyogenes SPy2000-SPy2004
Gamma-Proteobacteria
-

Glutamate synthase complex
Thermotoga maritima TM0394-TM0398
Archaea
-
There is another homolog for gene TM0397 of possible archaeal origin
NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase
Halobacterium sp. VNG0635G-VNG0637G
Bacteria
-

Phosphate transporter
Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicum MTH1727-MTH1734
Bacteria
-


Omelchenko et al. Genome Biology 2003 4:R55   doi:10.1186/gb-2003-4-9-r55