Ludvig Mortberg (Agneta.Guillemot at historia.umu.se) wrote:
(lengthy conflicting citations on rooting the universal tree
deleted).
: I couldn't resist posting this. Sorry.
Why apologize? Yes, rooting the universal tree by molecular methods
has yielded conflicting reports -- so have many areas of research
in their infancy. Do you propose to classify the three groups
(Eukaryota, Archea, & Eubacteria) by classical methods? Start
having fun, because archea look like they could have an affinity
with either of the other two (prokaryotic cells and operons are
bacterial, but the transcription complex looks like a eukaryotes).
It's a hard problem, and the data to date has been slim. As more
genes pile up in more taxa, the tree will probably resolve
(is it your prediction it won't, based on your low opinion
of molecular phylogenies?).
Keith Robison
Harvard University
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology
Department of Genetics / HHMI
robison at mito.harvard.edu
