Of course, isn't the underlying reason for the much greater variation in bacteria versus plants or animals just the fact that they've been around so much longer?
Some of it, yes. It definitely accounts for how there are more extinct species of bacteria than there have EVER been of animals. But there are other factors. You mentioned the ability to of plasmid (yes, they're real things, I use them all the time) DNA uptake. That, technically, would make a certain bacteria a "strain" not a "species" if the plasmid weren't integrated into the bacterial DNA (plasmids exist in the cytoplasm as separate, replicating strands). If it is integrated, you can make a better case for speciation.
Eukaryotes, on the other hand, are very difficult to mutate and change, and they have such specifically structured organelles and systems that it is very easy it destroy them if something is altered. The bacterium's lack of complexity saves it. Bacteria can live and even thrive with much of their DNA removed.
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Date: 2007-11-28 08:00 pm (UTC)Some of it, yes. It definitely accounts for how there are more extinct species of bacteria than there have EVER been of animals. But there are other factors. You mentioned the ability to of plasmid (yes, they're real things, I use them all the time) DNA uptake. That, technically, would make a certain bacteria a "strain" not a "species" if the plasmid weren't integrated into the bacterial DNA (plasmids exist in the cytoplasm as separate, replicating strands). If it is integrated, you can make a better case for speciation.
Eukaryotes, on the other hand, are very difficult to mutate and change, and they have such specifically structured organelles and systems that it is very easy it destroy them if something is altered. The bacterium's lack of complexity saves it. Bacteria can live and even thrive with much of their DNA removed.