[curiosity]

Still not macroevolution

According to the article, the mutants are a new species:

"It's the most profound change we have seen during the experiment. This was clearly something quite different for them, and it's outside what was normally considered the bounds of E. coli as a species, which makes it especially interesting," says Lenski.

That makes it Macroevolution.

[allmendream]

Moreover it shows that several successive steps may be required for metabolism of a new nutrient source, a confluence of mutations that suddenly unlocks a new ability several hundred generations (and a few final mutations) later.

Deniers of evolution as a mechanism that is necessary and sufficient to explain the diversity of life on earth have insisted that such a confluence of events could never lead to anything useful like the ability to metabolize citric acid.

Here they have been shown to be wrong once again. Who can say they are surprised?