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Dear Mr. Schlafly:

Dear Mr. Schlafly:

I suggest you might want to read our paper itself, which is available for download at most university libraries and is also posted as publication #180 on my website.  Here's a brief summary that addresses your three points.  

I suggest you might want to read our paper itself, which is available for download at most university libraries and is also posted as publication #180 on [http://myxo.css.msu.edu/PublicationSearchResults.php?group=aad my website].  Here's a brief summary that addresses your three points.  

1)  "... your claims, that E. Coli bacteria had an [[Theory of Evolution|evolutionary]] beneficial mutation in your study."  We (my group and scientific collaborators) have already published several papers that document beneficial mutations in our long-term experiment.  These papers provide exact details on the identity of the mutations, as well as genetic constructions where we have produced genotypes that differ by single mutations, then compete them, demonstrating that the mutations confer an advantage under the environmental conditions of the experiment.  See papers # 122, 140, 155, 166, and 178 referenced on my website.  In the latest paper, you will see that we make no claim to having identified the genetic basis of the mutations observed in this study.  However, we have found a number of mutant clones that have heritable differences in behavior (growth on citrate), and which confer a clear advantage in the environment where they evolved, which contains citrate.  Our future work will seek to identify the responsible mutations.

1)  "... your claims, that E. Coli bacteria had an [[Theory of Evolution|evolutionary]] beneficial mutation in your study."  We (my group and scientific collaborators) have already published several papers that document beneficial mutations in our long-term experiment.  These papers provide exact details on the identity of the mutations, as well as genetic constructions where we have produced genotypes that differ by single mutations, then compete them, demonstrating that the mutations confer an advantage under the environmental conditions of the experiment.  See papers # 122, 140, 155, 166, and 178 referenced on my website.  In the latest paper, you will see that we make no claim to having identified the genetic basis of the mutations observed in this study.  However, we have found a number of mutant clones that have heritable differences in behavior (growth on citrate), and which confer a clear advantage in the environment where they evolved, which contains citrate.  Our future work will seek to identify the responsible mutations.