Mapping gene linkages provides clear-cut evidence for comb jellies as sibling group to all other animals. A 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.
“We developed a new way to take one of the deepest glimpses possible into the origins of animal life. 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.
Schultz and team examined the linkages between genes on specific chromosomes, which are deeply conserved throughout time. They identified patterns that exist in a variety of animals and mapped those linkages back to the earliest point in animal evolution. The team found strong evidence that comb jellies represent a unique lineage whose ancestors diverged before the common ancestor of all other animals.
While groups of animals have evolved hundreds of millions of years apart, a remarkably large number of genes remain linked to the same chromosomes across these vastly different groups. Over time, the sequence of genes on each chromosome may change, but the actual link to the chromosome remains the same, except for in rare circumstances. Researchers have historically compared the gene sequences that coded for key proteins to infer how groups of organisms are related to one another.
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