blog

All I wanted from F1000 for Christmas was a dissent on an evaluation. And it looks like I’ve got it.

Ben Busby and Michael Galperin at the NCBI have taken issue with the claim that Halomonas sp. strain GFAJ-1 “can grow by using arsenic instead of phosphorus”. They give a nice little list of links to others’ criticisms (to which I’d like to add Ed Yong’s roundup), and manage to emphasize what history will probably prove to be the main point of the research, that this bacterium can manage to grow at 40 mM arsenate. That is truly remarkable.

And with that, I’m done here for this year. I’m going to wish you a Happy Christmas, and may all your dreams come true in 2011.