3 ms·
first multicellular model organism to have its genome sequenced. C. Elegans continues to astound: 35% of its genes are homologous to human genes and the human f
by hga 11y ago
first multicellular model organism to have its genome sequenced. C. Elegans continues to astound: 35% of its genes are homologous to human genes and the human forms can be used to replace the C. Elegans ones with minimal phenotypic difference.
Errr, I wonder why this is a surprise. If it respires, produces ATP, etc., why shouldn't is share common eukaryotic building blocks, that we should not be surprised are well conserved?
It does sound cool, but I think I'd rather work on E. Coli than an icky worm ^_^.
- dekhn 11y agoFair criticism, although generally I think for organisms that are that far separated, you'd think the substitutability would be a bit lower given their evolutionary distance. As for the worm being icky to be honest I hated C. Elegans when I first heard about it, mainly because the primary phenotypes were "dumpy" and "uncoordinated". That said, I feel like the value of the organism exceeds the ick factor for myself and TBH I find lumps of E. Coli pretty unappealing.
- bglazer 11y agoSurprising, probably not, but still amazing in my opinion! Our last common ancestor was in the Pre-Cambrian and we still share genes. That information has been preserved for billions of years!
- dekhn 11y agoSharing genes is nothing. That they have homolog levels of substitutability across 35% of the gene is surprising. I say this as somebody who has studied phylogenomics for a decade.