>
> In the past few years, a host of genome studies have demonstrated that
> DNA flows readily between the chromosomes of microbes and the external
> world. Typically around 10 per cent of the genes in many bacterial
> genomes seem to have been acquired from other organisms in this way,
> though the proportion can be several times that (New Scientist, 24
> January 2009, p 34). So an individual microbe may have access to the
> genes found in the entire microbial population around it, including
> those of other microbe species. "It's natural to wonder if the very
> concept of an organism in isolation is still valid at this level,"
> says Goldenfeld.
>