| An Open Letter... |
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A two-minute refresher on genetics. Methods, Phase (1) Methods, Phase (2) How I'd do it, but my wife won't let me. An open letter to the breeders and suppliers. Download this entire website as a [PDF] document. |
To the breeders and suppliers of mystery snails worldwide: First, I must confess that I’m a big fan. I would love to know how you initially developed all your keen Pomacea color variants, and how you currently cultivate them and bring them to market at such large scales. Second, it seems likely to me that you already have enough data for a good peer-reviewed publication, or (in any case) could easily gather it. Much more easily than I. But third, I understand why you might be reluctant to share details regarding the genetics of color polymorphism in your valuable product. You consider this information proprietary. It is one of your “trade secrets.” Fourth, I mean you no harm. I have no plans to start my own mystery snail business. Nor do I have any grant support, nor am I struggling to get tenure at some big-time research university. If I was, this would be a terrible way to get it. I’m just a retired college professor who is intellectually fascinated by the genetics of freshwater snails. And I would like to see this information available to the larger scientific community. And, in all honesty, it doesn’t look as though it will be terribly hard to figure out. So fifth, the bottom line. Please contact me. If you’ve got immediate plans to publish, I don’t want to scoop you. I will, of course, be interested to see your manuscript, or in any case, your data. If you’ve been considering a publication, but have not moved forward for some reason (experimental design? data analysis? English composition?) I would be happy to collaborate. |
Last
updated 7 Nov 2018