We’re all familiar with vertical gene transfer (whether you know it or not). Vertical transfer describes the way you inherit genes from your parents, for example. What about horizontal (or lateral) ...

The dominant thinking in evolution focuses on inheritance between parent and offspring - or 'vertical gene transfer (VGT)'. But now scientists are paying more attention to 'horizontal gene transfer ...

If you still remember that “Dear King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti,” you’ll likely also recall the corresponding taxonomic ranks of biology: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, ...

The Malaysian plant Rafflesia cantleyi is a parasite, attaching itself to another plant and deriving all its food from its unfortunate host. But Rafflesia doesn’t stop there. It swipes genes from its ...

The Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its host Tetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from ...