Evolution and evolutionary theory for physicians.
IV. Life on Earth

Česká verzia

Authors: F. Koukolík
Authors place of work: Primář: MUDr. František Koukolík, DrSc. ; Národní referenční laboratoř prionových chorob ; Fakultní Thomayerova nemocnice s poliklinikou, Praha ; Oddělení patologie a molekulární medicíny
Published in the journal: Prakt. Lék. 2010; 90(4): 199-205
Category: Editorial

Summary

The oldest organisms on Earth are prokaryotes. There are many differences between them and eukaryotes. Four models explain the origin of eukaryotes:

– fusion of an archea and bacteria, and

– three variants of endosymbiosis.

The current model classifies eukaryotes into six supergroups. Most people will be surprised to discover that they belong in the same supergroup as the sponges. In some well-known cases, molecular methods for estimating age on the “tree of life” give results that are about twice as old as the oldest fossils. The Ediacara hills in South Australia (formed in the geological epoch 635–542 million years ago) and Burgess Shale in the Canaadian Rockies are key sources for our observation of the earliest animal fossils. The renowned “Cambrian explosion” may have been to a certain extent an artefact. Questions concerning the evolution of plants, e.g. evolution of photosynthesis and multicellularity and the developmental genetic changes responsible for the origin of innovations such as roots, leaves and vascular tissue may be answered by comparative genomics as more plant genome sequences became available.

Key words:
prokaryotes, eukaryotes, animal evolution, plant evolution.

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