The furry puss caterpillar's venom packs a painful punch. Now new research shows it came from an unlikely source
The furry puss caterpillar's venom packs a painful punch. Now new research shows it came from an unlikely source
This caterpillar can cause excruciating pain when touched. But unlike most venomous arthropods, it uses its venom purely for self-defence.
That's really cool. I've never heard of horizontal genre transfer before. I'm curious how common it is
It's usually mediated by viruses. A virus infects an organism, picks up some host genetic material, and later jumps to a different host. At some point, the viral DNA is incorporated into the host genome and stays there, bringing the DNA from the previous host with it. This is how mammals got placentas. About 8% of the human genome is made of viruses that got stuck there
It happens in higher lifeforms. Among bacteria and the like it's extremely common.