Welcome to the family! Acorn worm is a distant human relative that shares 70% of our genes
- Researchers sequenced the genomes of two species of acorn worm
- They found 8,600 families of genes are shared across deuterostomes
- This is a large animal group that ranges from worms to frogs and humans
- 14,000 of our genes can be traced back to the original deuterostome
Say hello to our long-lost relative.
This fleshy pink Acorn worm is a distant cousin of humans and shares about 70 per cent - or at least 14,000 - of our genes.
Scientists believe our link to this invertebrate can be traced back to the Cambrian explosion, a surge in evolutionary diversity that occurred about 550 million years ago.
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The fleshy pink Acorn worm (pictured) is a distant cousin of humans and shares about 70 per cent - or at least 14,000 - of our genes. Scientists believe our link to this invertebrate can be traced back to the Cambrian explosion, a surge in evolutionary diversity that occurred about 550 million years ago
This period is said to have 'changed life on Earth forever', as complex animals with specialised guts and behavioural features emerged.
Acorn worms live on the ocean floor and feed by filtering sea water through slits that are distantly related to the gills of fish.
These slits represent a critical innovation in evolution not shared with animals like flies or earthworms.
Since acorn worms occupy such a 'critical evolutionary position' relative to humans, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) sequenced two species.
This included the Ptychodera flava, collected in Hawaii, and Saccoglossus kowalevskii, from the Atlantic Ocean.
The study found that 8,600 families of genes are shared across deuterostomes - a large animal grouping that includes a variety of organisms, ranging from acorn worms to star fishes, from frogs to dogs, to humans.
This equates to around 14,000 genes.
This means that approximately 70 per cent of our genes trace their ancestry back to the original deuterostome.
By comparing the genomes of acorn worms to other animals, OIST scientists inferred the presence of these genes in the common ancestor of all deuterostomes, an extinct animal that lived half a billion years ago.
One gene cluster preserved for more than half a billion years is thought to be linked to the development of the pharynx - the passageway linking the nasal cavity to the mouth and throat - in both acorn worms and vertebrates.
Acorn worms (Ptychodera flava left and Saccoglossus kowalevskii right) live on the ocean floor and feed by filtering sea water through slits that are distantly related to the gills of fish. These slits are distantly related to the gills of fish, and represent a critical innovation in evolution not shared with animals like flies or earthworms
Although the gene cluster is present in acorn worms and humans, it is missing from insects, octopuses, earthworms and flatworms.
'Their genomes are necessary to fill the gap in our understanding of the genes shared by the common ancestor of all deuterostomes,' explains Dr Oleg Simakov, lead author of this study.
'Our analysis of the acorn worm genomes provides a glimpse into our Cambrian ancestors' complexity and supplies support for the ancient link between the pharyngeal development and the filter feeding life style that ultimately contributed to our evolution.'
Recently, the OIST team also sequenced the genomes of the octopus and the coral Porites australiensis.
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