From “Genomes Sequenced: Bugs Within Mealybugs; And Bugs Within Bugs Within Mealybugs” (ScienceDaily Aug. 11, 2011), we learn that researchers have sequenced the genomes of two species of bacteria that live together, one inside of the other, inside mealybugs:
The effort has revealed a level of molecular-level integration between bacterial species that scientists have never before seen.
“This symbiosis teaches us a lot about extremes,” said John McCutcheon of the University of Montana. “The mealybug, Tremblaya and Moranella represent an extreme level of integration between organisms, each requiring fragments of essential amino acid pathways from the other to survive.”
Darwinist: Rampant competition explains it. And I have taxpayer funding.
McCutcheon and von Dohlen don’t yet know quite how it works, but it suggests that metabolites or enzymes or both must get traded back and forth among species in order to come up with the complete set of essential amino acids needed by all three organisms.
Darwinist: A slight reproductive advantage explains it all! And I have a court order to teach that.
Also notable, the researchers found that Tremblaya’s genome has shrunk to an impressive degree, making its genome the smallest ever described in any cell.
Darwinist: Selfish genes govern the outsourcing of parts of one’s life strategy to other life forms. And the Darwin lobby will shriek up a storm on my behalf.
Darwinism is a pension fund for tenured bores.