The Oil Drum

180 comments on DrumBeat: August 13, 2006

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Robert Rapier on August 13, 2006 - 3:52pm

Energy necessary to form a new species??? How the hell can that be measured? Bacteria can form a new species in a few hours.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. The nylon-digesting bacteria resulted from a frame-shift mutation. That was just a normal division process that got screwed up. All it takes is one division in some cases, as you say, to form a new species.

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ET on August 14, 2006 - 11:10am

Actually, gene-swapping or 'horizontal-gene-transfer' is ubiquitous among bacteria so it doesn't take mutations at all for them to form new 'species' however one defines a species among bacteria. Good evidence exists that HGT occurs somewhat higher up the evolutionary ladder as well.

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