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Whatever you want to call it, they don't have exactly the same genome. Calling them the same species is like saying Dog is Wolf and Human is Ape.
by 31reasons 12y ago
Whatever you want to call it, they don't have exactly the same genome. Calling them the same species is like saying Dog is Wolf and Human is Ape.
- undersuit 12y agoYou and I don't have the same genome, we aren't the same species?
- splawn 12y agoUnless you are my long lost twin, you and I don't have the exact same genome either. Personally, I like the thought that cauliflower is the poodle of cabbages.
- sp332 12y agoI'm not sure if it has changed, but things used to be called the same species if they can interbreed with each other and produce fertile offspring. Dog is wolf, yes; man is ape, no.
- MikeTaylor 12y agoWhat you are describing is known as the Biological Species Concept. It's one of at least 28 species concepts that have been proposed in the scientific literature -- they were surveyed in a review paper whose reference irritatingly escapes me. Anyway, the BSC is not the only game in town (and is particularly useless to those, like me, who are palaeontologists.)
- kennywinker 12y agoSome scientists theorize that that a Humanzee is possible http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee
- 31reasons 12y agoSelective pressure to modify the genome is the goal for altering organism's characteristics not unlike what happens naturally. So it is indirect gene editing. Now if the new organism is still the same species as you started with. I am not sure about that. There must be a test/definition for that. I think man descended from Ape and is homosapien.
- Houshalter 12y agoThe distinction is that dogs and wolves are different subspecies. However these plants have diverged mostly within the last thousand years or so, so they might not be even that different.