Re: early genetic engineering

On 18 Nov 2003 08:53:21 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jerry) wrote:

>Torsten Brinch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>> On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 23:10:09 -0600, Dean Hoffman
>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> 
>> >         http://www.journalstar.com/nebraska.php?story_id=98162
>> 
>> "Ancient Americans were changing corn genes through selective breeding
>> more than 4,000 years ago, according to researchers <snip>"
>> 
>> Bwahahahahaha.  One cannot  change genes through selective breeding.
>
>You are correct that one cannot change genes through selective
>breeding, on an individual basis.  But one can change the genes of a
>particular species by selective breeding.  Since "genes" in the qoted
>sentence is qualified by "corn" proceeding it, the the statement is
>correct.  It could have been stated more clearly if the person making
>the statement would have said that ancient Americans were changing the
>genetic make up of corn through selective breeding more than 4,000
>years ago. 

Fair enough, Jerry, but that statement  still goes quite beyond what
the research in question can support. --- and indeed   does not
represent what the researchers  actually conclude from their research
in that Science article. ( Jaenicke-Després et al: "Early Allelic
Selection in Maize as Revealed by Ancient DNA", Science (2003) v302,
p1206).  

> But with the current state of journalism, I'm just glad
>that they spelled most of the words correctly.