Queen’s University researchers Peter Davies and Laurie Graham from the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University join us in this episode.  They recently published a free open-access study in Trends in Genetics reporting a gene that crossed the “species barrier”. The study, Horizontal Gene Transfer in Vertebrates: A Fishy Tale looks specifically at new evidence proving the direction of transfer was from herring to smelt.

Their research shows a unique example of direct vertebrate to vertebrate transmission of a useful gene, analogous to genetic modifications that can be carried out in a laboratory.

How did the gene jump the species barrier? Check out this episode and learn more from Drs. Davies and Graham.