All organisms must continuously adapt to their environment in order to survive. Such adaptation is brought about by changes in their genetic material. Together with colleagues from New Zealand, Paul Rainey from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön has been studying the emergence of new, better adapted cell types in the laboratory. The researchers have discovered that one mechanism by which bacteria can develop new characteristics is through the fusion of two existing genes. In some of the cells, this resulted in genes coming under the control of a new promoter, resulting in the synthesis of larger quantities of the protein encoded by the gene. In another case, two neighbouring genes fused together. The protein encoded by the resulting gene – composed of parts of the two original genes – has a different localization within the cell. This effect is also known from other organisms, including humans. A gene fusion of this type results in bacterial cells which are better adapted to their environment.