As we are well aware from other newsgroups, Una is the last person who should
suggest that someone is argumentative and has used the last of their net
graces. Also doesn't Una work with plants? Just how much experience do you
have with microbiology and PCR of different bacteria. Those of us who use
these techniques on a daily basis in our research know that good methodology
eliminates contamination. It is not an insurmountable problem.
I agree that the discussion has gone astray, but the case still boils down to
seeing diversity of bacteria under the scope and not being able to culture
what you see. What are these bugs? That's just good scientific curiosity
and maybe we will learn something interesting. Are you aware that it is
estimated that maybe we can culture 10% of the microbial diversity. Does
that mean we should not use alternative technology to investigate the other
90%?
Kim Nelson
Institute of Mol. Evol. Genetics
Penn State Univ.
