Lucy in Newsweek

[Curtis Clark]

At 20:08 2004-04-03, HJJACOBSON at AOL.COM wrote:
>I just doubt that the history of lineage-splitting can be extracted from the
>genome.

I understand that doubt, but I no longer agree with it. As long as the
"flow" of the genome is primarily longitudinal, through the species tree,
the fact that individual gene trees may not be congruent is "merely" a
temporary inconvenience; eventually the pattern will become clear.

And the same could be said for morphology. Has anyone ever assessed
attached earlobes, PTC-tasting, widow's-peak, and other putative human
single-locus traits for polymorphism in chimps or orangs?


--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Web Coordinator, Cal Poly Pomona                 +1 909 979 6371
Professor, Biological Sciences                   +1 909 869 4062