NANFA-L-- A new tree of life allows a closer look-in-the origin of

Doug Sharp (dougsharp-in-channelzilch.com)
Sat, 4 Mar 2006 15:33:18 -0600

This new "tree of life" based on analysis of the evolution of genes caught
my eye this morning. Of course, Danio rerio has a prominent place in the
tree. I didn't know that the pufferfish Takifugi rubripes was "a model
vertebrate for genome analysis because of its small genome". Fish are
squeezed in between chickens and mosquitoes on the outer ring of the chart.

Synopsis of "Science" Article:
http://www.embl.org/aboutus/news/press/2006/02mar06/index.html
Large Chart:
http://www.bork.embl.de/tree_of_life/tree_Feb15_300dpi.jpg

"In 1870 the German scientist Ernst Haeckel mapped the evolutionary
relationships of plants and animals in the first 'tree of life'. Since then
scientists have continuously redrawn and expanded the tree adding
microorganisms and using modern molecular data, yet, many parts of the tree
have remained unclear. Now a group-in-the European Molecular Biology
Laboratory [EMBL] in Heidelberg has developed a computational method that
resolves many of the open questions and produced what is likely the most
accurate tree ever. The study, which appears in the current issue of the
journal Science, gives some intriguing insights into the origins of bacteria
and the last common universal ancestor of all life on earth today."

"DNA sequences of complete genomes provide us with a direct record of
evolution", says Peer Bork, Associate Coordinator for Structural and
Computational Biology-in-EMBL, whose group carried out the project. "For a
long time the overwhelming amount of data [the human genome alone contains
enough information to fill 200 telephone books] has made it very difficult
to pinpoint the information needed for a high-resolution map of evolution.
But our study shows how this challenge can be tackled by combining different
computational methods in an automated process."

Source Article:
F. D. Ciccarelli, T. Doerks, C. von Mering, C. J. Creevey, B. Snel & P.
Bork. Towards automatic reconstruction of a highly resolved tree of life.
Science, 3 March 2006.

- Doug Sharp, on the still-frozen Martel Lake, WI - home of the elusive
fathead minnow
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml