Gene-swapping orgies... in cheese

• Autores: Michael Le Page
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3096, 2016, pág. 10
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • That cheese they're so fond of is a hotbed of bacterial bestiality. The diverse microbes that cheesemakers use are swapping genes like crazy as they evolve to thrive in the new environment they have created for them. A study of 165 of the bacterial species in cheeses has found that 130 of them--80 per cent--have shared genes with other species. Altogether nearly 5000 genes have been swapped. The process probably began when people started making cheeses, and continues to this day. And this level of sharing is probably an underestimate, according to Kevin Bonham of the University of California San Diego, and his colleagues