Current views of evolution: On the role of horizontal gene transfer
This article is an extended summary of a lecture given to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Saratov State University's Faculty of Nonlinear Processes at the School-cum-Conference "Nonlinear Days for the Young in Saratov - 2012". The article presents a brief review of the literature reflecting the foundations of the modern theory of biological evolution. Among the vast diversity of papers reporting various approaches to the problem (including a number of seminal studies on the self-organization of open systems) and analyzing experimental (sometimes quite contradictory) data, preference is given to studies by Russian and foreign authors that are believed by the lecturer to be of the most interest to microbiologists. Special emphasis is placed on the role of interspecies (horizontal) exchange of genetic information; the significance of such exchange for the evolution, emergence, and functioning of a wide range of endo- and ectosymbiotic plant-microbe systems; and genetic engineering.