The Universal Ancestor

Details The Universal Ancestor The Universal Ancestor

Jun 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998pnas...95.6854w&link_type=abstract

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 95, Issue 12, pp. 6854-6859

Mathematics

Logic

35

Scientific paper

A genetic annealing model for the universal ancestor of all extant life is presented; the name of the model derives from its resemblance to physical annealing. The scenario pictured starts when ``genetic temperatures'' were very high, cellular entities (progenotes) were very simple, and information processing systems were inaccurate. Initially, both mutation rate and lateral gene transfer levels were elevated. The latter was pandemic and pervasive to the extent that it, not vertical inheritance, defined the evolutionary dynamic. As increasingly complex and precise biological structures and processes evolved, both the mutation rate and the scope and level of lateral gene transfer, i.e., evolutionary temperature, dropped, and the evolutionary dynamic gradually became that characteristic of modern cells. The various subsystems of the cell ``crystallized,'' i.e., became refractory to lateral gene transfer, at different stages of ``cooling,'' with the translation apparatus probably crystallizing first. Organismal lineages, and so organisms as we know them, did not exist at these early stages. The universal phylogenetic tree, therefore, is not an organismal tree at its base but gradually becomes one as its peripheral branchings emerge. The universal ancestor is not a discrete entity. It is, rather, a diverse community of cells that survives and evolves as a biological unit. This communal ancestor has a physical history but not a genealogical one. Over time, this ancestor refined into a smaller number of increasingly complex cell types with the ancestors of the three primary groupings of organisms arising as a result.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Universal Ancestor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Universal Ancestor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Universal Ancestor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1508790