Swithers Kristen S, Gogarten J Peter, Fournier Gregory P
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3125, USA.
J Biol. 2009;8(6):54. doi: 10.1186/jbiol160. Epub 2009 Jul 13.
Reconstructing the 'Tree of Life' is complicated by extensive horizontal gene transfer between diverse groups of organisms. While numerous conceptual and technical obstacles remain, a report in this issue of Journal of Biology from Koonin and colleagues on the largest-scale prokaryotic genomic reconstruction yet attempted shows that such a tree is discernible, although its branches cannot be traced.
由于生物的不同群体之间存在广泛的水平基因转移，重建“生命之树”变得复杂起来。尽管仍然存在许多概念和技术上的障碍，但本期《生物学杂志》中库宁及其同事关于迄今尝试的最大规模原核生物基因组重建的一篇报告表明，这样一棵树是可辨别的，尽管其分支无法追溯。
