>> Many single-celled organisms collect genes from other organisms -- a
process known as horizontal gene transfer 
>
>> The latter supposedly is only observable in lab conditions


reply:

> The massive horizontal gene transfer (HGT), which has recently become so
apparent, is challenging our views of genome evolution. This genetic
cross-talk is thought to have the potential to erase much of the history of
life that has been recorded in DNA. Indeed, some, perhaps most, scientists
think that HGT may have effectively erased the phylogenetic signal of the
tree of life from genomes.

from

Deriving the Genomic Tree of Life in the Presence of Horizontal Gene
Transfer: Conditioned Reconstruction by James A. Lake  and Maria C. Rivera
(c) Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2004; all rights reserved.

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