![]() ![]() “This finding will lay the foundation for the scientific community to begin to develop a better understanding of how animals-and humans-have evolved.”įor years, scientists have investigated whether sponges or comb jellies were most distantly related to all other animals. We’ve used genetics to travel back in time about one billion years to get the strongest evidence yet to answer a fundamental question about the earliest events in animal evolution,” said Darrin Schultz, previously a graduate student researcher at MBARI and UC Santa Cruz and now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna. “We developed a new way to take one of the deepest glimpses possible into the origins of animal life. Understanding the relationships among animals will help shape our thinking about how key features of animal anatomy, such as the nervous system or digestive tract, have evolved over time. In the new study, a team of researchers from MBARI, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Vienna mapped sets of genes that are always found together on a single chromosome, in everything from humans and hamsters to crabs and corals, to provide clear evidence that comb jellies are the sibling group to all other animals. Identifying this outlier-known as the sibling group-has long eluded scientists. As technology and science have advanced, scientists have investigated two alternative hypotheses for which animals-sponges or comb jellies, also known as ctenophores-were most distantly related to all other animals. By mapping sets of genes found together on a single chromosome across a wide array of animals, the researchers presented strong evidence that comb jellies form the sibling group to all other animals.Ī study published by MBARI researchers and their collaborators today (May 17) in Nature provides new insights about one of the earliest points in animal evolution that happened more than 700 million years ago.įor more than a century, scientists have been working to understand the pivotal moment when an ancient organism gave rise to the diverse array of animals in the world today. The study revolves around the mystery of which animal, sponges or comb jellies (ctenophores), represents the most distant relation to all other animals. Mapping gene linkages provides clear-cut evidence for comb jellies as sibling group to all other animals.Ī groundbreaking study published in Nature by MBARI researchers and their collaborators offers fresh insights into the earliest points of animal evolution, tracing back over 700 million years. A study by MBARI and collaborating scientists used gene linkages to establish that comb jellies, not sponges, are the most distantly related animal to all other animals, helping to clarify a fundamental question about animal evolution that dates back over 700 million years.
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