Ancient deep-sea isopod acquires ND1 gene from bacteria via HGT, amplifies expression, and picks up ability to live for 5 years without food. 🧪
"Deep-sea megafauna co-opts microbial energy metabolism genes to withstand ultra-long starvation"
by Yuan et al. (2026, Cell)
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
By acquiring an energy metabolism-related gene via ancient horizontal transfer from
a bacterial symbiont, the deep-sea supergiant isopod gains the ability to reprogram
its energy allocation, enabling ...
