[Taxacom] Myxozoa (was: surprise from a whole-genome study)

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi Jason,
       An excellent point about the degree of invasive contact.  I
especially liked the aphid-elephant example (of a LACK of such contact).     
        Anyway, as I noted some years ago, I believe that myxozoans are
an important player in the evolution of Kingdom Metazoa, not only
Cnidaria (with whom they are now most closely allied, but also the
Bilateria (more than one branch of which it intimately invades in its
different stages.    
         Therefore, lateral ("horizontal") gene transfer between Myxozoa
and various separate clades of Metazoa could eventually explain a lot of
the problems we have long had in untangling metazoan interrelationships.
So  such lateral gene transfer could provide an even more fundamental
"surprise" in our understanding of metazoan evolution, perhaps more of a
SURPRISE to those who have too long downplayed the role of such LGT
(HGT) in the early phylogeny of the major taxa of Metazoa.
       ----------Ken Kinman                 
------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Mate wrote:
       Of course either scenario can only be explained if there was a
degree of invasive contact between the organisms: viruses, bacteria or
fungi transfering their genetic material into other organisms. An
aphid´s gene in an elephant´s genome suggests dirty pippeters or
funny lab technicians.