Task: Answer Verification
Input (English): Question: Is horizontal gene transfer in bdelloid rotifers ancient , ongoing and more frequent in species from desiccating habitats?
Answer: Nearly half of foreign genes were acquired before the divergence of bdelloid families over 60 Mya. Nonetheless, HGT is ongoing in bdelloids and has contributed to putative functional differences among species. Variation among our study species is consistent with the hypothesis that desiccating habitats promote HGT.
Output (English): yes