Contact: Barbara K. Kennedy
Caption: The baobab tree represents one of the most ancient species of life on the planet. In our paper, we investigate ancient and highly divergent proteins, called retro-elements, whose evolutionary histories hold keys to uncovering the origins of life. Our research demonstrates that phylogenetic profiles generated using the Gestalt Domain Detection Algorithm-Basic Local Alignment Tool provide an independent method for estimating the evolutionary histories of retroelements.
Credit: Randen Patterson and Damian van Rossum, Penn State
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Related news release: Scientists develop new method to investigate origin of life