TY - JOUR AU - Méheust, Raphaël AU - Watson, Andrew K. AU - Lapointe, François-Joseph AU - Papke, R. Thane AU - Lopez, Philippe AU - Bapteste, Eric PY - 2018 DA - 2018/06/07 TI - Hundreds of novel composite genes and chimeric genes with bacterial origins contributed to haloarchaeal evolution JO - Genome Biology SP - 75 VL - 19 IS - 1 AB - Haloarchaea, a major group of archaea, are able to metabolize sugars and to live in oxygenated salty environments. Their physiology and lifestyle strongly contrast with that of their archaeal ancestors. Amino acid optimizations, which lowered the isoelectric point of haloarchaeal proteins, and abundant lateral gene transfers from bacteria have been invoked to explain this deep evolutionary transition. We use network analyses to show that the evolution of novel genes exclusive to Haloarchaea also contributed to the evolution of this group. SN - 1474-760X UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-018-1454-9 DO - 10.1186/s13059-018-1454-9 ID - Méheust2018 ER -