> From: Jeffrey Allan Simon <jbsimon at ix.netcom.com>
> Subject: Re: Anyone Seen Evolution?
I wrote:
> >And yes, if you take BK virus (a polyomavirus) out of the urine of
> >immunosuppressed patients, and cycle it in tissue culture (in which
> >it initially refuses to grow), checking it frequently by PCR and
> >sequencing, you will find that tissue culture-adapted mutants arise,
> >all of which independently have rearranged their "control regions".
> >In other words, the viruses mutate at a hot-spot, and the ones which
> >are viable come through. VERY beneficial, for the virus. And can be
> >found in the lit in J Virol by Rubinstein and Harley some years ago.
...
> >Back to the Book, Jeff....
Jeff wrote:
> Fascinating Ed, but tell me, what is the name of this new species that has "evolved?" These
> appear to be examples of microevolution. These examples cannot be used to extrapolate from E
> coli to man. An organism adapting to its environment is a great example of natural selection,
> but natural selection is just as compatible with creation. With the billions of years of
> evolution, there should be better examples of evolution, both in the present and in the past.
> Back to your hypothesizing Ed.....
You asked for an example one could see/watch: I gave you one. Now
you ask for a new species...OK, recombinant geminiviruses, with
hybrid genomes, that infect wider / different host ranges of plants
(to be found all over S and N America presently) - and evidence that
an ancient recombination gave rise to an entire GENUS of
Geminiviridae (hybrid genome betweem Subgroup I and III
geminiviruses), with new properties / host range / etc.
Buth that won't satisfy you either, will it?
Ed Rybicki, PhD
Dept Microbiology | ed at molbiol.uct.ac.za
University of Cape Town | rybicki at uctvms.uct.ac.za
Private Bag, Rondebosch | phone: x27-21-650-3265
7700, South Africa | fax: x27-21-689 7573
WWW URL: http://www.uct.ac.za/microbiology/ed.html
"Out here on the perimeter, there are no stars..."
