Researchers Make Gene Discovery

CHICAGO (UPI) — Researchers have found the exchange of genes between unrelated plant species, once considered forbidden by nature, seems to occur on a wide scale.The findings by Indiana University researchers, published in the British science journal Nature, surprised biologists who thought it was impossible, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I never expected this would happen,” said Manyuan Long, a University of Chicago evolutionary geneticist. “Just two months ago I was teaching graduate students that this kind of horizontal gene transfer does not occur in higher organisms. Now I’m going to have to teach that it does.” Charles Darwin said evolution means genetic changes occur in common ancestors and are passed down in a straight line called vertical gene transfer — parents to child to grandchild. Horizontal gene transfer involves the exchange of genes from one species to another, possibly through a virus..

Implications: ‘Take pill, grow a tail…’