= Endosymbiotic gene transfer
<Endosymbiotic gene transfer> moves genetic material from an <endosymbiont> or its descendant <organelle> into the host <genome>, notably the nuclear <genome>. A transferred <DNA> segment can remain silent. For a transferred <gene> to replace an <organelle>-encoded function, nuclear <gene expression> must work and its <protein> must reach the right compartment through <organelle protein import>. Transfer of <DNA> and transport of <proteins> are distinct processes in opposite directions. <Experimental Reconstruction of Functional Gene Transfer from the Tobacco Plastid Genome to the Nucleus by Sandra Stegemann and Ralph Bock>[Introduction, p. 2869, and Discussion, p. 2875: transferred sequences and the additional targeting problem]{ref}
<Gene> loss and <endosymbiotic gene transfer> are different: absence from an <organelle> <genome> does not by itself show that a functional nuclear copy exists. Conversely, an imported <protein> may derive from a host <gene> rather than a transferred <gene>. The surviving <organelle> <genome> is therefore a partial record, not a complete inventory of either ancestral <bacteria> or the modern <organelle>'s machinery. <Origin and Evolution of Plastids and Photosynthesis in Eukaryotes by Geoffrey I. McFadden>[“How to tame your symbiont”: losses, transfers, host recruitment and repatriation of proteins]{ref}
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