However, some bacterial genes show negative control.
Celera, in its genome analysis, made no mention of bacterial genes in the human genome.
"It's not been documented previously that bacterial genes got into the human genome.
Virtually all Americans have eaten food containing soybeans or corn containing bacterial genes that make plants resistant to herbicides or insects.
Bacterial genes help with digestion, sometimes in unexpected ways.
Genetic engineering allows species barriers to be crossed in a new way -- to put bacterial genes in corn or fish genes in tomatoes.
In the United States, 70% of antibiotics sold are used for cattle and fowl but the resistant bacterial genes they engender could end up affecting humans.
Dr. Eugene Koonin of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, who wrote the section of the consortium's article on bacterial genes with Dr. Lander, said he could not discuss Dr. Salzberg's paper without Dr. Lander's assent.
Dr. W. Ford Doolittle, an expert on bacterial evolution at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, said the lateral transfer of bacterial genes into the human genome was possible but the consortium's method of trying to prove it was "awfully incautious".
Through gene splicing, the modified crops now grown — mainly canola, corn, cotton and soybeans — typically contain bacterial genes that help the plants resist insects or tolerate a herbicide that can be sprayed to kill weeds while leaving the crop unscathed.
The move could put Novartis in a delicate spot because its agricultural division continues to sell genetically modified seeds, particularly corn seeds with bacterial genes that allow the corn plant to produce a toxin that kills the corn borer.
