Lancelets
Lancelets, also known as “Amphioxus,” are small, fishlike animals within the subphyla Cephalochordata. This organism may be tiny in size, but their impact on human evolution is tremendous! Carol MacKintosh, a professor in the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee, defines them as “…a very distant cousin to humans and other vertibrates. It is the creature most similar to the original spineless organism that existed before a major genomic event occurred.”
A new study indicates a genetic error, which took place 500 million years ago, led to human evolution. This organism went through two doublings of its DNA and initiated the evolution of not only various animals, but humans as well. In addition to contributing to the evolution of other organisms, this unusual event also led to proteins that are liable for several of the diseases we see today, such as diabetes and cancer. You may wonder how something like this could be discovered, and here is a little summary: MacKintosh and her research group “study a network of several hundred proteins that work inside human cells to coordinate their responses to growth factors and to insulin,” as described by Jennifer Viegas of Discovery News. A biochemical analysis of the proteins was performed, and it was discovered that they “date back to the genome duplications, which occurred during the Cambrian [Period].” Fortunately, studying these proteins can unravel and reveal additional diseases and evolution.
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/dna-mistake-evolution-120724.htm
A new study indicates a genetic error, which took place 500 million years ago, led to human evolution. This organism went through two doublings of its DNA and initiated the evolution of not only various animals, but humans as well. In addition to contributing to the evolution of other organisms, this unusual event also led to proteins that are liable for several of the diseases we see today, such as diabetes and cancer. You may wonder how something like this could be discovered, and here is a little summary: MacKintosh and her research group “study a network of several hundred proteins that work inside human cells to coordinate their responses to growth factors and to insulin,” as described by Jennifer Viegas of Discovery News. A biochemical analysis of the proteins was performed, and it was discovered that they “date back to the genome duplications, which occurred during the Cambrian [Period].” Fortunately, studying these proteins can unravel and reveal additional diseases and evolution.
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/dna-mistake-evolution-120724.htm