Scientists Develop New Method to Investigate Origin of Life (IMAGE)

Penn State

Scientists Develop New Method to Investigate Origin of Life

Caption

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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