All life on Earth shares a common ancestor that lived roughly four billion years ago. This so-called “last universal common ancestor” represents the most ancient organism that researchers can study.
Tree of Life
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
New Clues To Origins Of Complex Life Revealed
Mississippi State biologist Matthew W. Brown, the university’s Donald L. Hall Professor of Biology, is part of an international research team whose groundbreaking discovery is featured Nov. 19 in Nature—one […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Time-resolved Phylogenomics Analysis Reveals Patterns In Biosphere Nutrient Limitation Through Earth History
The co-evolution of life and Earth has profoundly transformed global biogeochemical cycles over the past 3.5 billion years.
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Jumping Genes Help Resolve The Tree Of Life
Genomes are key to unlocking life’s evolutionary history. The presence and absence of certain genetic sequences and mutations can give us clues to the order in which species diverge.
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release
Earth Life Biodiversity: Vast DNA Tree Of life For Flowering Plants Revealed
The most up-to-date understanding of the flowering plant tree of life is presented in a new study published today in the journal Nature by an international team of 279 scientists, […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Multi-substrate Specificity Shaped The Complex Evolution Of The Aminotransferase Family Across The Tree Of Life
Aminotransferases (ATs) are an ancient enzyme family that play central roles in core nitrogen metabolism essential to all organisms. However, many of the AT enzyme functions remain poorly defined, limiting […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
The Evolution And Spread Of Sulfur-cycling Enzymes Reflect Volcanic Sulfur Sources And The Redox State Of The Early Earth
The biogeochemical sulfur cycle plays a central role in fueling microbial metabolisms, regulating the redox state of the Earth, and impacting climate through remineralization of organic carbon.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Unsuspected New Microbes Expand The Tree of Life
The tree of life, which depicts how life has evolved and diversified on the planet, is getting a lot more complicated. Researchers at UC Berkeley, who have discovered more than […]
Posted inGaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Untangling The Tree of Life on Earth
Two recent high-profile phylogenetic studies reached conflicting conclusions about whether snail’s closest relatives are bivalves or an enigmatic group called tusk shells. Vanderbilt phylogeneticists suggest that the cause of this […]