Desiccation Does Not Drastically Increase the Accessibility of Foreign DNA to the Nuclear Genomes: Evidence from the Frequency of Endosymbiotic DNA Transfer

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a widely accepted force in the evolution of prokaryotic genomes. However, in eukaryotes, it is still in hot debate. Some bdelloid rotifers that are resistant to extreme desiccation and radiation were reported to have a very high level of HGTs. However, a similar report in another resistant invertebrate, tardigrades, has been mired in controversy. The DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by prolonged desiccation have been postulated to open the gateway of nuclear genome for foreign DNA integration and thus facilitate the HGT process. If so, the rate of endosymbiotic DNA transfer should also be enhanced. We first surveyed the abundance of nuclear mitochondrial DNAs (NUMTs) and nuclear plastid DNAs (NUPTs) in three groups of eukaryotes that are extremely resistant to desiccation, bdelloid rotifers, A. vaga and A. ricciae, tardigrades, H. dujardini and R. varieornatus, and the resurrection plants, D. hygrometricum and S. tamariscina. Excessive NUMTs or NUPTs have not been detected. Furthermore, we compared nine groups of desiccation-tolerant organisms with their desiccation-sensitive relatives but did not find significant difference in the NUMT/NUPT contents. Desiccation could induce DSBs, but it unlikely dramatically increase the frequency of foreign sequence integration in most eukaryotes. Only in the nuclear genomes enriched in repetitive sequences, the DSBs are predominantly repaired by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and desiccation-induced DSBs is possible to enhance the integration of foreign sequences into nuclear genome for some degree.