FR post: “A bug acquired the DNA of a toxic plant, and now it’s running rampant”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3945734/posts
“...A bug known as a whitefly received a gene from a plant, and that DNA influx... changed it... The bug has been causing massive damage to tomato, potato, and tobacco crops, as the new gene allowed it to evade protections that plants develop against these pests....
...As far as we know, ours is the first example of horizontal transfer of a functional gene from plant to animal,”...
Great. As if Tomato Hornworms and Japanese Beetles aren’t bad enough! :(
I’m not going to panic. Yet. Supposedly this ‘gene transfer’ happened 80 million years ago.