Moreover, the existence of such a trait predicts a tendency for kindness to unrelated organisms that are apparently kind, even if the organisms are of a completely different species.

The report said these effects could also occur as a result of conventional plant breeding programmes, but the risk of transferring genetic material between unrelated organisms was unique to GM technology.

In biology, an analogy is a trait or an organ that appears similar in two unrelated organisms.

It is extremely improbable that totally unrelated organisms could have developed such similar sclerites independently, but the huge difference in the structures of their bodies makes it hard to see how they could be closely related.

Biologists now recognize that the prokaryotes, the bacteria and archaea have the ability to transfer genetic information between unrelated organisms through horizontal gene transfer (HGT).

The report also asserted there was no evidence of "unique" hazards in the transfer of genes between unrelated organisms.

If these enigmatic organisms left no descendants their strange forms might be seen as a "failed experiment" in multicellular life with later multicellular life independently evolving from unrelated single-celled organisms.

In some instances it is clear whether some traits are analogous or homologous, as in mimicry complexes involving completely unrelated organisms or those of different orders.

New examples of this ribozyme were then found in the genomes of unrelated organisms like schistosomes, cave crickets, Arabidopsis thaliana plant and a few mammals like rodents and platypus.

These genes are incorporated using conventional approaches to plant breeding, but have also been augmented by recombinant techniques, which allow introduction of genes from completely unrelated organisms.