The code that is DNA

[The Grand Nudger]

Can tomatoes breed with tomatoes? Can green beans breed with tomatoes? Can you breed with tomatoes. Can you breed with green beans?

[John 6IX Breezy]

I don't know if tomato plants can breed with green been plants.

[The Grand Nudger]

Do you think that we might be able to devise a test to determine this? -and the others?

[John 6IX Breezy]

If I'm just working with just the genetic material you provided me with, I don't know if it can be determined. If, however, you're now giving me a whole tomato and green bean plant to work with, yes I would assume such a test could be devised.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Such lovely quibbles.

Aren't those ancestors of tribbles? I hear there is trouble with tribbles.

Not until Nick Frost plays Harry Mudd!

[The Grand Nudger]

Yes, just working with genetic material it can be determined whether or not two given reps can breed - but..yes ofc, this isn't the only bit of direct evidence we have available to us. They're reproductively incompatible, just as you are to them.

This is the functional description of speciation. A state of affairs in which two genetically related organisms are incapable of successful breeding with each other. The tomatoes, in this instance, are sufficiently genetically similar, though not identical, to produce offspring. When genetically dissimilar but reproductively compatible organisms mate, the process of evolutionary change which necessarily follows is called hybridization. Let's suppose that...for whatever reason, the hybrid offspring of our two dirt apple parents is wildly successful. Where would the next generation of dirt apples get their genetic material from?

[John 6IX Breezy]

Yes, just working with genetic material it can be determined whether or not two given reps can breed - but..yes ofc, this isn't the only bit of direct evidence we have available to us. They're reproductively incompatible, just as you are to them.

This is the functional description of speciation. A state of affairs in which two genetically related organisms are incapable of successful breeding with each other. The tomatoes, in this instance, are sufficiently genetically similar, though not identical, to produce offspring. When genetically dissimilar but reproductively compatible organisms mate, the process of evolutionary change which necessarily follows is called hybridization. Let's suppose that...for whatever reason, the hybrid offspring of our two dirt apple parents is wildly successful. Where would the next generation of dirt apples get their genetic material from?

The definition of a species is a bit blurry, and there's a few methods used to demarcate them, but yes, the biological method looks at reproductive isolation as a marker.

As with your other test, I'll concede that genetic information alone can determine if two species are reproductive isolated, only if you provide me with the appropriate research. Otherwise I can't.

[The Grand Nudger]

Is there any particular reason that you feel compelled to revise your earlier acknowledgements, or can we continue?

[LadyForCamus]

upload pic

[John 6IX Breezy]

Is there any particular reason that you feel compelled to revise your earlier acknowledgements, or can we continue?

I haven't made any revisions; I've been fairly consistent on the issues of your illustration. I point them out, make a note of where they are, and proceed. 

For example, you've made up a hypothetical test that can determine reproductive isolation between two genetic samples; is there some kind of dissimilarity threshold in genetics that allows us to know when such isolation occurs? Is there perhaps a unique chromosome that affects sexual reproduction exclusively that we can narrow our search just to that? If you think you can just look at genes, run a test on them, and figure out what they can or can't do, I'm afraid this discussion won't be possible. Take for example studies looking for a genetic component of homosexuality; these studies need to, first and foremost, gather people who are already homosexual and then look for any correlation in their genes. Why? Because that information doesn't just emerge from DNA; there isn't a miniature signpost that says, hey, I'm the gene for homosexuality, or hey, I'm the gene responsible for sexual isolation between these two samples. You need more than genes to draw these conclusions.

Likewise the species concept, there are different methods for defining the boundaries between species, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. If you're going to treat the biological species concept (the one that uses reproductive isolation) as if it were a matter-of-fact, set in stone definition of what a species, then I'm going to disagree with you. Every individual bacteria in a population of e. coli for example is reproductively isolated, obviously, since they're asexual.

So if you're walking me through your illustration from scratch, you have to address these things; and it doesn't seem like you are prepared for any nuances. But at this point it doesn't matter, you can proceed with your illustration.