Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!bill
From: bill@ut-emx.uucp (Bill Jefferys)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Reconstructing cells from DNA
Message-ID: <48330@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 3 May 91 13:06:45 GMT
References: <79788@bu.edu.bu.edu> <47570@ut-emx.uucp> <21630@crg5.UUCP>
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas
Lines: 34

In article <21630@crg5.UUCP> szabo@crg5.UUCP (Nick Szabo) writes:
#In article <47570@ut-emx.uucp> bill@ut-emx.uucp (Bill Jefferys) writes:
#
#>...a bacterium has co-evolved
#>with the wasp. It is transmitted via the eggs... and 
#>has evolved the ability to supress the production 
#>of male offspring. Presumably this
#
#Since when did bacterium lose their genes?  Parasatism is
#every bit as much genetic evolution as more "normal" methods
#of making a living.  And it is well known that predator and parasite

Sure, I know that bacteria contain genes. And (as I pointed
out to Chris C. in E-mail and as others have pointed out
here) the acquisition of organelles by eukaryotic cells
is an example of "infection" of an organism by outside
genetic material that changes the genetic complement
of the organism. 

What is perhaps unique, and certainly different, about this
example is the fact that the condition is reversible when
the wasp is exposed to antibiotics.

If you will reread my original posting, you will note that I
did not posit this as a case of non-genetic evolution. I did
point out that the example shows that the idea is not as
far-fetched as others were making it out to be. In biology,
it is frequently difficult to draw clear lines of demarcation.

Bill Jefferys

-- 
If you meet the Buddha on the net, put him in your kill file
	--Robert Firth