Illustration of bacteria in the human gut. Credit: Darryl Leja, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health
Dec. 1, 2022 (Phys.org) -- Your gut bacteria need vitamin B12 just as much as you do. Though DNA is usually passed from parent to child, new research shows gut bacteria transfer genes through "sex" in order to take their vitamins.
Without vitamin B12, most types of living cells cannot function. As a result, there is strong competition for it in nature. A new UC Riverside study demonstrates beneficial gut microbes share the ability to acquire this precious resource with one another through a process called bacterial sex.
"The process involves one cell forming a tube that DNA can pass through to another cell," said UCR microbiologist and study lead Patrick Degnan. "It's as if two humans had sex, and now they both have red hair."
Scientists have known about this process for decades, and its ability to transfer what are known as "jumping genes" between organisms. Until now, the majority of studied examples have been responsible for helping bacterial cells stay alive when people ingest antibiotics.
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