Hello,
There is a paper by Tibayrenc et al 1991 that is relevant in this discussion:
Tibayrenc M., Kjellberg F., and F. J. Ayala (1991) The clonal Theory of
parasitic protozoa: a taxonomic proposal applicable to other clonal
organisms. BioScience 41(11):767-774
They conclude that genetic markers should not be used to separate species
at least they correspond with "biologically significant differences", of
course there is ambiguity in this assumption but it can be defined in
each case. They suggested the use of a new term "clonet" to name the clonal
lineages and a method of clone designation. They didn't discuss in deep
the relationship of this term 'clonet' with ramets or genets previously
used in the microbiology literature.
I am not presuade to use this new term 'clonet' given that its
relationship with previously used ones: 'ramets' and 'genets' should be
stablished before decide to use it, however the analysis of the problem and
the suggested nomenclature appear appropiate.
Ananias
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Ananias Escalante | E-Mail:
Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | aescalan at uci.edu
University of California Irvine | aescalan at dino.conicit.ve
Irvine, CA 92717, USA | PHONE: (714) 856-8295
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