# Paralogous guanine deaminases acquired from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer promote purine homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Source: [PLOS Genetics](https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1012379) · 2026-11-10 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/paralogous-guanine-deaminases-acquired-from-bacteria-by-horizontal-gene-transfer-f666aa63e8afc6ce
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Disruptions in purine metabolism contribute to human diseases, including the rare genetic disorder Lesch-Nyhan syndrome.
- The study reports paralogous guanine deaminases in Caenorhabditis elegans that were acquired from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer.
- The paper, published in PLOS Genetics, reports that these genes promote purine homeostasis in the worm.

## Why it matters

It shows that genes acquired from bacteria can contribute to core purine metabolism in an animal, which may inform how purine homeostasis is studied in model organisms.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-10: Paper published in PLOS Genetics

## Coverage

- [Paralogous guanine deaminases acquired from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer promote purine homeostasis in Caenorhabditis elegans](https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1012379) — PLOS Genetics, 2026-11-10

Tags: purine metabolism, horizontal gene transfer, caenorhabditis elegans, guanine deaminase, genetics

---

Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science