Zelandakh, on 2015-August-17, 09:56, said:
The chances are quite considerable that there are already mouse genes within an elephant.
You mean homologues that are so close that the elephant version could turn into the mouse version by a naturally occuring mutation, for example by reacctivating and identical but silenced gene?
Pam's point is (correct me if I am wrong?) that a mouse gene inserted into an elephant chromosome can be a more complex mutation than the small steps that naturally occur from generation to generation.
It is also qualitatively a bit different since the artificially inserted gene is sometimes a combination of a foreign gene and a label.
I don't know if this is relevant from a health or environmental risk POV, but in any case it is a bit oversimplified to say that genetic engineering is just mimicking natural processes.
The world would be such a happy place, if only everyone played Acol :) --- TramTicket