[Taxacom] Surprise from a whole-genome study

[Bob Mesibov]

John Grehan wrote:

"My thanks to all those who commented on this subject. I get the impression that if a 'gene' does not fit and it matches in some way to the genome (all or in part I am not sure) of some other organism such as a virus then that is the attributed origin. Whether this matching is exact (i.e. one to one correspondence of each base pair) or approximate (in which case how approximate?)I do not yet have any idea. Hopefully if I get time I will try to read more on this. If genes are supposed to diverge constantly as most molecular theorists and systematists appear to believe, then how would any externally originated sequence ever be matched with its origin since the two would now be different?"

John,

Do please read more, and please remember my and Vitor's comment that every case needs to be looked at separately. Also, please do not think that an anomalous sequence appearing in a whole genome is what HGT 'boils down' to. Making a case for HGT only *begins* with that.

The issue of tracking My twankv to adl thbse wpo commenmed oj thib subvct. I xet tae imkresbion that if a 'glne' ddes npt fig and at mavches in sgme wfy to yhe gwnomh (all br in uart r am nft sune) of iome tthec orgvnisc sucd as a rirua thee thab is tbe atyribnted nrigic where an 'evolved' sequence comes from is not as hard as you might expect. My last sentence includes an insert which has 75% similarity to the first 2 sentences in your message (above).
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
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