Different strains is enough to get ecological competition started. Which strain will be the most reproductively successful? The one that is best at eliminating its competition. It's not more puzzling than coyotes vs. wolves, but it's a little more puzzling than coyotes vs. rabbits.
If one strain of e. coli emits something toxic to other strains of e. coli, and that results in greater reproductive success, the trait will be retained. The genes don't want anything, it's just that genes that confer a reproductive advantage are conserved.
Natural selection is a conservative phenomenon. It doesn't create anything, it acts on what is already present, either culling what is disadvantageous to reproduction or preserving what is advantageous. Mutations are random changes within the limits of what is possible for DNA/RNA and how they affect reproductive success, if at all, determines whether and how natural selection acts on them.
If one strain of e. coli emits something toxic to other strains of e. coli, and that results in greater reproductive success, the trait will be retained. The genes don't want anything, it's just that genes that confer a reproductive advantage are conserved.
Natural selection is a conservative phenomenon. It doesn't create anything, it acts on what is already present, either culling what is disadvantageous to reproduction or preserving what is advantageous. Mutations are random changes within the limits of what is possible for DNA/RNA and how they affect reproductive success, if at all, determines whether and how natural selection acts on them.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
