Seeing Is Believing: Intercellular Transfer of DNA between Human Cells.

Intercellular transfer of DNA via nanotubes occurs in human cells, with over 50% of transfer events resulting in functional DNA integration into recipient nuclei.

• Why it matters: Understanding how DNA moves between cells is crucial because it may influence genetic diversity, disease progression, and therapy resistance, filling a significant knowledge gap in human cell biology.
• What they did: The study used multiple human cell lines to demonstrate that DNA from damaged or unstable genomes can transfer through nanotube-like structures, with transferred DNA integrating into recipient cell chromosomes.
• The result: This discovery reveals a new form of horizontal gene transfer in humans, enabling transferred DNA to confer a fitness advantage and potentially impacting disease development and genetic evolution.