retroviruses; mammals

[Ken Kinman]

Curtis,
    Please tell me you were kidding and making a joke.  I completely agree
with Tom's statement, even if the possibility of it happening are infinitely
small.
    However, viruses popping in and out of genomes is a totally different
thing, so I do hope you were joking.
                       --------Ken

>At 12:35 PM 9/27/99 -0500, Tom DiBenedetto wrote:
> >If they now lose their mammary glands, go through a massive bout of
>reductive evolution to the point where they become single-celled, crawl
>into a thermal vent and start sucking sulfur, they will still be part of
>Mammalia, because Mammalia refers to a *historical lineage*., as do all
>taxa.

>  Just as evidently some retroviruses are mammals.
>                 Curtis Clark

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