This book is about mobile genes--the transfer of DNA between unrelated cells. It discusses the machinery of gene transfer and its wide-ranging biological and health consequences. Mobile DNA makes possible the development of antibiotic resistance in microbes, the conversion of harmless to pathogenic bacteria, and the triggering of cancerous growth in cells. It also contributes to human evolution. This well-illustrated volume contains an up-to-date account of a topic now seen as increasingly important, and will be invaluable for both working scientists and as a textbook for advanced.

Lateral transfer or horizontal transfer of DNA occurs when DNA, through a variety of processes, is moved from one organism to another, becoming fully integrated into the new organism. Bushman (The Salk Institute, California) explains how this happens, the extent to which it happens, and the implications for our understanding the functioning of DNA in a number of processes, from evolution to pathologies. Chapters cover the mechanisms of lateral transfer on a molecular basis, with attention paid to transfer mechanisms between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, as well as those between species that belong to divergent phylogenetic taxa. As the work is devoted to natural mechanisms, technological applications are not treated in detail, although some discussion is included outside the main body of the text.
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