Have you read TFA?
From what I understand, the breakthrough in this research is not the discovery of horizontal gene transfer in microbes, but of the fact it may have been, according to their simulations, the _primary_ factor in the evolution of the genetic code. That means that the idea of natural selection, in the development of the genetic code, is not the regular notion of survival of the fittest individual which passes its traits vertically, but rather the joined survival of a group of organisms based on their ability to share their genetic code horizontally.
Slashdot Mirror
Have you read TFA? From what I understand, the breakthrough in this research is not the discovery of horizontal gene transfer in microbes, but of the fact it may have been, according to their simulations, the _primary_ factor in the evolution of the genetic code. That means that the idea of natural selection, in the development of the genetic code, is not the regular notion of survival of the fittest individual which passes its traits vertically, but rather the joined survival of a group of organisms based on their ability to share their genetic code horizontally.