An article in Science last November seems to be having spin off.
http://www.embl.org/aboutus/news/press/2005/press25nov05.htmlhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051124221029.htmhttp://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/we_are_as_worms/http://www.panspermia.org/whatsne39.htm
Where is the difference between the genomes of humans and annelids?
Alexei Fedorov, Larisa Fedorova
Genome Biology 2006 7:203
Abstract = http://genomebiology.com/2006/7/1/203/abstract
Full Text = http://genomebiology.com/2006/7/1/203
PDF = http://genomebiology.com/2006/7/1/203/pdf
The first systematic investigation of an annelid genome has revealed that the
genes of the marine worm Platynereis dumerilii are more closely related to
those of vertebrates than to those of insects or nematodes. For hundreds of
millions of years vertebrates have preserved exon-intron structures descended
from their last common ancestor with the annelids
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Raible, F.et al.* 2005: Vertebrate-Type Intron-Rich Genes in the Marine
Annelid Platynereis dumerilii. Science 310: 1325-1326. (25 November, 2005)
*Raible, Florian; Tessmar-Raible, Kristin; Osoegawa, Kazutoyo; Wincker,
Patrick; Jubin, Claire; Balavoine, Guillaume; Ferrier, David; Benes, Vladimir;
de Jong, Pieter; Weissenbach, Jean; Bork, Peer; Arendt, Detlev
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/310/5752/1325
Previous genome comparisons have suggested that one important trend in
vertebrate evolution has been a sharp rise in intron abundance. By using
genomic data and expressed sequence tags from the marine annelid Platynereis
dumerilii, we provide direct evidence that about two-thirds of human introns
predate the bilaterian radiation but were lost from insect and nematode
genomes to a large extent. A comparison of coding exon sequences confirms the
ancestral nature of Platynereis and human genes. Thus, the urbilaterian
ancestor had complex, intron-rich genes that have been retained in Platynereis
and human.
--
Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
http://www.annelida.net/
