Wolbachia/Drosophila

[wbla3335]

Sorry to diverge from all these discussions about religion, but what do you all make of the finding of nearly the complete genome of Wolbachia inside the genome of Drosophila ananassae (http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1142490)? I find this absolutely extraordinary. Particularly from an evolutionary point of view. I don't have online access to Science so have only read the abstract and some news reports. Apparently many of the Wolbachia genes are functional in Drosophila. The insertion of the Wolbachia genome into the Drosophila ananassae genome has obviously not reduced the flies' fitness to any significant degree. Comments? Ideas? Absolutely amazing.
Or, to get back on track, would God do such a thing, or is this an obvious example of stupid design?

[genovese]

Incredible, thanks for the reference to the article. Is this what we have all been waiting for? Does this not show that large jumps in evolution could occur without there being an intermediate fossil evidence?

[genovese]

I am amazed that no one seems to be replying to this subject. Perhaps it needs a more exciting "Topic". I must admit that it was pure luck that I opened "Wolbachia/Drosophila"

[Darby]

ID tends to ignore parasitism and its many effects, because there are many examples that show no intelligent design.

In this case, though, to play devil's advocate, one could say that the influence of the parasite's genome strengthened the flies. Design just says that the evolutionary process is following intelligent direction, and this could be seen that way.