Horizontal Gene Transfer by Remote Replication?

This chapter was inspired by the discovery that a horizontal gene transfer (HGT) between eukaryotes is possible. The belief has been that HGT is possible only from prokaryotes to prokaryotes or eukaryotes. The basic obstacles are that the host DNA is within the cell nucleus and that DNA is tightly bound to chromosomes. The transfer should also occur to germ cells in order to have a lasting effect.

The case considered is HGT of antifreezing gene (AFG) from herring to smelt, which could have occurred during simultaneous spawning of herring and smelt in the same area. The AFT of herring associated with a transposon could have somehow attached to the sperm cell of the smelt and carried by it to the egg of the smelt. Vector carrying AFT to the sperm cell of smelt is needed and there are only guesses about what it might be.

That HGT however occurs, justifies a heretical question. Could it be only the genetic information, which is transferred and used to construct DNA in the host as a kind of remote replication analogous to quantum transportation? The findings of Gariaev and Montagnier indeed suggest remote replication and TGD provides a new physics model for it.

See the article Horizontal Gene Transfer by Remote Replication? or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.