IMPLICATIONS. “The implication of widespread horizontal gene transfer-induced genetic diversity is revelatory on two levels: (1) it disproves the thesis that, compared with multi-cellular eukaryotes, prokaryotic populations of invariant clones are evolutionary sluggards; and (2) it rules out the possibility of a single, true, whole-genome phylogenetic tree for any prokaryote or its pan-genome.”
https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8