Re: Hierarchal vs Non-Hierarchal Interfaces to Biological Taxonomy

Paul wrote:
> 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.

Suppose Mr. A looks at all the blah, blah, blah evidence as mentioned above and concludes that organisms X and Y should be "grouped" together. Suppose that Mr. B looks at the same evidence and concludes that X and Y should /not/ be grouped together. What observation or what experiment will falsify either Mr. A or Mr. B's hypothesis?

By the way, what did you mean above by "group a given organism with others"?

> 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.

Did you observe the transfer in a laboratory?

Keith -- Fraud 6 Received on Sat Dec 23 2006 - 16:28:42 CST