Excellent point! Good reading.
I'm not sure about the particular E. coli example but I'm pretty darn sure it would be possible to have a genetic modification that would "stick out". Encoding a 1,000 digits of PI perhaps?
I think what you have here, in a long winded form, is Clark's third law:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
This message has been edited by NosyNed, 09-04-2004 12:33 AM