tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post8895099470871293287..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: The Largest Prokaryotic GenomesLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-23158091532981979082013-07-19T12:24:17.966-04:002013-07-19T12:24:17.966-04:00As mentioned, there are actual shared and derived ...As mentioned, there are actual shared and derived characteristics to eukaryotes, so the similarity isn't false at all and actually helpful to people who still think in terms of "higher" and "lower" organisms. <br /><br />On the other hand, euks aren't immune to bad terminology. My personal pet peeve is "protist" -- basically a meaningless term for single celled euks that aren't fungi.Jonathan Badgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04921990886076027719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-80045403877442903702013-07-19T08:51:37.637-04:002013-07-19T08:51:37.637-04:00Does "eukaryote" give us a false impress...<i>Does "eukaryote" give us a false impression of similarity between, say, diatoms, Paramecium, red algae, and elephants?</i><br /><br />No, it doesn't. They are similar in important ways: they all have nuclei, organelles, big ribosomes, and so on. In short, they have actual shared, derived characteristics.John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-1639658005810949662013-07-19T07:32:11.188-04:002013-07-19T07:32:11.188-04:00Can I play the rhetorical question game? Is that i...Can I play the rhetorical question game? Is that impression false, at the level of cellular organisation?AllanMillerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05955231828424156641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-25116623091948255482013-07-19T06:36:39.304-04:002013-07-19T06:36:39.304-04:00On the other hand, does "prokaryote" giv...<i>On the other hand, does "prokaryote" give us a false impression of similarity between, say, Thermus aquaticus and Escherischia coli?</i><br /><br />I dunno. Does "eukaryote" give us a false impression of similarity between, say, diatoms, Paramecium, red algae, and elephants? Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-19620717273430708422013-07-18T19:53:23.152-04:002013-07-18T19:53:23.152-04:00I think the relevant question is whether it's ...I think the relevant question is whether it's possible to define "prokaryote" other than by the absence of eukaryote features. One can, for example, define "tree" as a perfectly good description of certain plants, even though they don't make a clade. But one can't do the same for "invertebrate", which is just all the animals that aren't vertebrates, some of which are deuterostomes and some of which are even chordates. Useless unless you're a vertebrate chauvinist.John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-37600576215831105592013-07-18T19:08:41.197-04:002013-07-18T19:08:41.197-04:00Doesn't it? I mean you hear of people being de...Doesn't it? I mean you hear of people being described as working on "invertebrate zoology" - as if the group was all the same -- bugs, worms, tunicates, whatever. If I worked on such organisms I know I'd be annoyed at the broad classification.Jonathan Badgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04921990886076027719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-31889667741730539412013-07-18T18:53:56.797-04:002013-07-18T18:53:56.797-04:00I'd say that it does. You?I'd say that it does. You?John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-67286347299581910092013-07-18T18:50:40.163-04:002013-07-18T18:50:40.163-04:00Does "invertebrate" give us a false impr...Does "invertebrate" give us a false impression of similarity between, say, tunicates and fruitflies?Joe Felsensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359126552631140000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-6261927040411967772013-07-18T18:16:01.833-04:002013-07-18T18:16:01.833-04:00Actually, dislike for "prokaryote" doesn...Actually, dislike for "prokaryote" doesn't require the three domain hypothesis. It merely requires that you think 1) only clades deserve names and 2) prokaryotes aren't a clade. And the only way they would be a clade is if Archaea + Eubacteria were the sister group of Eukaryota.<br /><br />For the record, I'm a pretty fanatical cladist, and I only require that taxon names refer to clades, not all names in the world. On the other hand, does "prokaryote" give us a false impression of similarity between, say, Thermus aquaticus and Escherischia coli?John Harshmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06705501480675917237noreply@blogger.com