Low Rates of Lateral Gene Transfer among Metabolic Genes Define the Evolving Biogeochemical Niches of Archaea through Deep Time

Table 5

Calculated lateral transfer rates across the domain Archaea.

Genes	Number of LGT events	LGT rate (events per billion years)*
Cytochrome oxidase	12–14	3.4–4.0
Quinol oxidase	8	2.3
Total genes using oxygen as terminal electron acceptor	20–22	5.7–6.3
Dissimilatory sulfite reductase (DsrAB)	2	0.6
Thiosulfate sulfurtransferase (SseA)	11	3.1
Sulfur oxygenase reductase (SOR)	2	0.6
Sulfur reductase (SreC)	1	0.3
Flavocytochrome c sulfide dehydrogenase (FCDS)	3	0.9
Sulfide quinone oxidoreductase (SQO)	2	0.6
Total genes using sulfur compounds as electron donors or acceptors	21	6.0
Nitrate reductase (NarGH)	7	2.0
Nitrite reductase (NirK)	1	0.3
Nitrite reductase (NirS)	1	0.3
Nitric oxide reductase (NorB)	4	1.1
Nitrous oxide reductase (NosZ)	3	0.9
Nitrogenase (NifHDE)	4	1.1
Total genes involved in nitrate reduction or nitrogen fixation	20	5.7
Chitin degradation	2	0.6
Oxidation of phenolic compounds	9	2.6
Total selected organic carbon degradation genes	11	3.1

*Assuming the archaeal domain of life is 3.5 billion years old [10].