Is Horizontal Gene Transfer a Force for Evolution?
04/13/2009 April 13, 2009 Two more genomes were published last week: the information libraries of two tiny microbes. They are members of Micromonas, green algae less than two microns across. The original paper and summary both bragged about how the genetic information is helping shed light on evolution, but did the data really contain any light? If so, the light was pointing downward. Worden et al published the genomes of RCC299 and CCMP1545, two isolates of the picophytoplankton clade Micromonas.1 John M. Archibald commented on the paper in Perspectives article in the same issue.2 Three observations cast doubt on whether evolution generated any new functional information: • Reduction: Both genomes have been stripped of unnecessary baggage for their simple marine lifestyle. Two alga species sequenced earlier are the reining [sic] champions of eukaryotic cellular miniaturization, Archibald said. The two genomes are also stripped down, but less so than Ostreococcus. • Stasis. Is there an
