[AndrewC]

Either it came from a more compact structure, or resulted in a more compact structure - but either way, that more compact structure is also functional, so long as you don't buy into this artifical constraint that only things that do X are "functional".

As I stated, the functionality under question is flagellar not virulence and that determines irreducibility. The argument is not whether something has any function( you can fill a balloon with water, air, or a present).

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

When the intermediates or the ancestral-type III secretion systems are found, ping me, will ya? :)

[general_re]

As I stated, the functionality under question is flagellar not virulence and that determines irreducibility.

That's simply an artificial restriction on what it means for something to be "functional", though. If I take the wheels off of a skateboard, it's no longer a skateboard - it's basically just a plank of wood. But that doesn't mean that I can't use the the plank for something else, that it's functionless in and of itself - you have to evaluate it on its own merits, not based on what it is not. "Either it's a skateboard or it's useless" is a false dichotomy - there are lots of things you can do with the wood even in the absence of wheels.