Coral reveals ancient origins of human genes

December 16, 2003 | Source: Nature Science Update

A study of coral found that about 500 gene sequences out of 1300 had matches in gene databases.

Of these 500, 90% were present in humans, and about 10% were found in humans but not in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster or the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. This finding suggests that many genes thought to be vertebrate-specific may in fact have much older origins, and have been lost during the evolution of the fly and worm.

The finding means that although fly and worm models are useful for studying gene function in development and cellular processes, they may be of limited value in studies of the evolution of human genes.

The researchers were surprised to find genes similar to those that contribute to the specialized tissues of vertebrate nervous systems, even though coral has only a simple nerve net.