Table 6.

Modes of Horizontal DNA Transfer.

DNA Transfer Mode	Donor-Recipient Taxa
Liberation and uptake of extracellular DNA (“Transformation”)	Archaea-archaea; Bacteria-bacteria; Yeast-yeast; Stramenopile red alga-alga; Plant-bacteria
Encapsidation in and delivery by a virus or virus-like particle (“Transduction”)	Archaea-archaea; Bacteria-bacteria; Insect-insect; Bacteria-mammal; Mammal-mammal
Establishment of a DNA transport pore between two cell envelopes (“Conjugation”)	Archaea-archaea; Bacteria-bacteria; Bacteria-yeast; Bacteria-fungi and mushrooms; Bacteria-plant; Bacteria-mammalian cells; Bacteria-diverse eukaryotes
Cell fusion	Archaea-archaea
Phagotrophism	Bacteria-protist
Additional DNA transfer modes within taxa:
Protoplast fusion	Bacteria, Yeast, Fungi, Plants
Liposomal or membrane vesicle-mediated transfer	Archaea, Mammalian cells
Sperm-mediated DNA transfer	Insect larva, Mammals
Parasite- and endosymbiont-mediated transfer (inferred)	Red algae; Aphids, parasitoid wasps; a beetle; Drosophila; Butterflies; Vertebrates; Reptile-mammal; Mammals

A fully referenced version of this table is available as Supplementary Table S6.