This paper poses a problem for traditional phylogenetics: The identity of organisms that reproduce through fission can be understood in several different ways. This prompts questions about how to differentiate parent organisms from their offspring, making vertical gene transfer unclear. Differentiating between parents and offspring stems from what I call the identity problem. How the problem is resolved has implications for phylogenetic groupings. If the identity of a particular asexual organism persists through fission, the vertical lineage on a phylogenetic tree will split differently than if the identity of an organism does not survive the fission process.

中文翻译：

---

无性生物，身份和垂直基因转移。

本文为传统的系统发育提出了一个问题：通过裂变繁殖的生物的身份可以通过几种不同的方式来理解。这引发了有关如何区分亲代生物与其后代的疑问，从而使垂直基因转移不清楚。父母与后代之间的区别源于我所说的身份问题。问题的解决方式对系统发育分组具有影响。如果特定无性生物的身份通过裂变而持续存在，则与无性生物在裂变过程中无法幸存的情况相比，系统发育树上的垂直谱系将以不同的方式分裂。