Re: Hierarchal vs Non-Hierarchal Interfaces to Biological Taxonomy

Bob Badour <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote:

> Here's an even better one: Suppose a retrovirus comes along that conveys
> some fitness advantage so that it becomes ubiquitous among a species:
> ducks for instance. Suppose as well that the virus crosses over from the
> domesticated duck population into pigs and humans where it too becomes
> ubiquitous.

This is a well known problem in evolutionary biology. The thing to do is to take the set of all genes + morphological and fossil data and combine them all into a synthesis about the animal/species in question.

i.e. if one takes a single gene sequence from a bacterium, it doesn't tell a biologist a lot about that bacterium's evolution. The whole genome, wall structure, operon order, habitat, G/C content plus many other criteria allow us to group a given organism with others. There are too many examples of gene transfer in nature for one bit of DNA to be a definitive reference.

I my degree thesis, I was the first person on earth to discover a gene transfer event from the archea to the eubacteria - no ticker tape parade, but I was proud of myself.

Paul...

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