In the horizontal gene transfer you have one that’s f+ and the other f- and this article talking about E Coli specifically is pretty gendered.

" This chapter deals with F-pilus—sex hair, sex pilus, F-fimbria, and sex firnbria— of Escherichia coli. It essentially describes methods of assay and synthesis of F-pili, their functions and properties, and the mutant approach to the F-pilus problem. F-pili first observed, differed from common pili by the random adsorption of small RNA viruses along their sides. F-pili are both longer and wider than Type I or common pili. Frequent appearance of knobs or enlargements at their distal extremities is also used to distinguish F-pili in micrographs. Free F-pili from the supernatant of a culture of male cells can be treated with ultrasonic vibrations to yield smaller fragments"

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/bookseries/pii/S0065291108603641

They’re free to identify however they like.

Because it’s a parody of humans

Horizontal genetransfer can be kind of seen as a precursor to recombination through gametes. mom and dad are not the worst description of the parent generation if there was some sharing of “material” before splitting…

Neither mom nor dad or brother makes sense here. The whole cartoon is a fail really.

Well, just stop visiting the comics community then.

Anthropomorphic objects and animals and talking cats and dogs are pretty common.
There’s a another comic posted right now of talking cats. I don’t see you commenting
in that comic about how unrealistic it is or how it is a fail by the comic’s artist.

You’re being overly-critical for no reason.