Medical Definition of horizontal gene transfer
: the transmission of genetic material between genomes and often between genomes of different species
This acquisition of foreign genes is generally referred to as horizontal gene transfer (as opposed to vertical inheritance, in which an organism receives DNA from an ancestor).— James O. McInerney and Davide Pisani, Science Much of the genetic machinery needed to facilitate host specificity and virulence is acquired through horizontal gene transfer. Mobile genetic elements, such as transposons, plasmids, or bacteriophages, obtained from strains already adapted to specific hosts, often provide the genes necessary for selective virulence.— Franklin D. Lowy, The New England Journal of Medicine
— called also lateral gene transfer
Test Your Vocabulary
Great Words for Scrabble
-
- Which of the following Q-without-U words means the number five in cards or dice?

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!
TAKE THE QUIZ
A daily challenge for crossword fanatics.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share horizontal gene transfer