Scientists Develop New Method to Investigate Origin of Life

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The baobab tree represents one of the most ancient species of life on the planet. In our paper we investigate ancient and highly divergent proteins called retro-elements whose evolutionary histories hold keys to uncovering the origins of life. Our re ...
The baobab tree represents one of the most ancient species of life on the planet. In our paper, we investigate ancient and highly divergent proteins, called retro-elements, whose evolutionary histories hold keys to uncovering the origins of life. Our research demonstrates that phylogenetic profiles generated using the Gestalt Domain Detection Algorithm-Basic Local Alignment Tool provide an independent method for estimating the evolutionary histories of retroelements. Credit: Randen Patterson and Damian van Rossum, Penn State
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Penn State have developed a new computational method that they say will help them to understand how life began on Earth. The team's method has the potential to trace the evolutionary histories of proteins all the way back to either cells or viruses, thus settling the debate once and for all over which of these life forms came first.


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