Sea sponge unravels 700 million-year-old mystery

6 Nov 2020
a sea sponge in the water
These elements have been preserved across 700 million years of evolution, say researchers.

In a discovery spanning millions of years, scientists have found that humans, and most likely other animals, share important genetic mechanisms with a prehistoric Great Barrier Reef sea sponge.

The University of Queensland’s Professor Bernie Degnan said some elements of the human genome – an organism’s complete set of DNA – functioned in the same way as the sponge.

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