In a scenario eerily similar to Jurassic Park , scientists function at Georgia Tech have successfully revive an ancient 500 million - year - old gene by hybridizing it with modern E Coli bacterium . The young var. of bacteria , which has now hold out through 1,000 generations , may aid scientist better interpret the evolutionary trajectory taken by primitive organisms .
The experiment , which was lead by Betül Kaçar , a NASA astrobiology postdoctoral fellow , was an attempt to see “ evolution in action . ” She was capable to accomplish this remarkable feat of genetic resurrection using a process known as “ paleo - experimental evolution . ”
And interestingly , the “ chimeric ” bacteria has already started to mutate — in some vitrine becoming stronger and healthier than today ’s varients . compose in The Daily Mail , Rob Waughexplains :
‘ The adapted organism was n’t as goodly or fit as its modern - twenty-four hour period interpretation , at least initially , ’ suppose [ Eric ] Gaucher , ‘ and this make a perfect scenario that would allow the neutered organism to adapt and become more fit as it accumulated mutations with each passing twenty-four hour period . ’
The emergence rate finally increased and , after the first 500 contemporaries , the scientists sequence the genomes of all eight lineages to determine how the bacteria adapted .
Not only did the physical fitness levels increase to nearly modern - day levels , but also some of the altered lineages actually became healthy than their innovative counterpart .
When the investigator looked closer , they noticed that every EF - Tu factor did not accumulate mutations . Instead , the modern proteins that interact with the ancient EF - Tu inside of the bacteria had mutated and these mutations were creditworthy for the rapid adaptation that increased the bacteria ’s fitness .
In short , the ancient gene has not yet mutated to become more interchangeable to its modern manakin , but rather , the bacteria found a novel evolutionary flight to adapt .
As Kaçar noted in a Wired.co.ukarticle , “ We need to cognize if an organism ’s story restrict its future and if evolution always lead to a single , defined point or whether evolution has multiple resolution to a given problem . ”
The results were presented at the recent NASA International Astrobiology Science Conference , but you’re able to learn more about this experiment atGeorgia technical school .
source : Daily Mail&Wired.co.uk . All images via Georgia Tech .
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