Horizontal Gene Transfer, possibly?

Horizontal Gene Transfer. Bacteria pass useful genes to one another. think of it like a weird and simple form of talking: if a bacteria enters a new environment and meets other bacteria it “asks” the bacteria in the new environment for useful genes. I’m definitely not doing this justice but it’s fascinating.

Anyway our high level understanding of mammalian/plant evolution (or the ability to go back in time from it) doesn’t quite apply to bacteria.

So, instead of Great Old Ones, we have Tiny Old Ones.