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Author Topic:   Scientists replicate key evolutionary step in life on earth
Butterflytyrant
Member (Idle past 4422 days)
Posts: 415
From: Australia
Joined: 06-28-2011


(1)
Message 1 of 11 (648709)
01-17-2012 5:29 PM


Hey Guys,
Another step forward for the science guys -
More than 500 million years ago, single-celled organisms on Earth's surface began forming multi-cellular clusters that ultimately became plants and animals.
Just how that happened is a question that has eluded evolutionary biologists.
Now scientists have replicated that key step in the laboratory using common Brewer's yeast, a single-celled organism.
The yeast "evolved" into multi-cellular clusters that work together cooperatively, reproduce and adapt to their environment--in essence, they became precursors to life on Earth as it is today.
rest of the story here - http://www.physorg.com/...plicate-key-evolutionary-life.html
Yay for us!

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Evlreala
Member (Idle past 3075 days)
Posts: 88
From: Portland, OR United States of America
Joined: 08-12-2009


Message 2 of 11 (648725)
01-17-2012 10:19 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Butterflytyrant
01-17-2012 5:29 PM


That's aboslutly fascinating, thank you so much!
This completely made my night.

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xongsmith
Member
Posts: 2578
From: massachusetts US
Joined: 01-01-2009
Member Rating: 6.8


Message 3 of 11 (648734)
01-18-2012 2:55 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Butterflytyrant
01-17-2012 5:29 PM


Butterflytyrant report:
...Now scientists have replicated that key step in the laboratory using common Brewer's yeast, a single-celled organism....
Cant wait to find out what the beer will taste like.

- xongsmith, 5.7d

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Panda
Member (Idle past 3712 days)
Posts: 2688
From: UK
Joined: 10-04-2010


Message 4 of 11 (648737)
01-18-2012 5:56 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Butterflytyrant
01-17-2012 5:29 PM


Would that count as evolving into a different 'Kind'?
Or do creationists consider all micro-organisms to be a single 'kind'?

If I were you
And I wish that I were you
All the things I'd do
To make myself turn blue

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Tangle
Member
Posts: 9489
From: UK
Joined: 10-07-2011
Member Rating: 4.9


Message 5 of 11 (648738)
01-18-2012 6:40 AM


It seems to have been surprisingly easy to do.
Now that we have people like Venter creating new species by computer, it can't be too long before someone starts building life itself from scratch.
Of course this will still bring forth claims of intelligent design but it's chip, chip, chipping away at the idea that only a supernatural being can do it.
Once that is out of the way they will claim that only God can create the chemical elements that then go on to build life.
Just pushing god further and further back into the firmament.

Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android

  
Wounded King
Member
Posts: 4149
From: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Joined: 04-09-2003


(1)
Message 6 of 11 (648741)
01-18-2012 7:05 AM


The actual paper is available through Open Access on the PNAS website.
It would be interesting to compare this with the similar previous observations on the unicellular algae chlorella (Boraas et al, 1998).
TTFN,
WK

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hooah212002
Member (Idle past 801 days)
Posts: 3193
Joined: 08-12-2009


Message 7 of 11 (648813)
01-18-2012 5:21 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Panda
01-18-2012 5:56 AM


Still the yeast kind, no?

Mythology is what we call someone else’s religion. Joseph Campbell

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Replies to this message:
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Panda
Member (Idle past 3712 days)
Posts: 2688
From: UK
Joined: 10-04-2010


Message 8 of 11 (648857)
01-18-2012 10:47 PM
Reply to: Message 7 by hooah212002
01-18-2012 5:21 PM


Surely it is obvious...
Hooah writes:
Still the yeast kind, no?
I would need creationists to actually describe how they delineate kinds before I can know for sure...but it looks different to yeast. Isn't that enough?
(And I can also make the claim that it is obviously not the same kind.)

If I were you
And I wish that I were you
All the things I'd do
To make myself turn blue

This message is a reply to:
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hooah212002
Member (Idle past 801 days)
Posts: 3193
Joined: 08-12-2009


Message 9 of 11 (648861)
01-18-2012 11:11 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by Panda
01-18-2012 10:47 PM


Re: Surely it is obvious...
I would need creationists to actually describe how they delineate kinds
Have you got multiple lifetimes???? Because they still haven't figured it out and they've had 2,000 years.....

Mythology is what we call someone else’s religion. Joseph Campbell

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Dr Jack
Member
Posts: 3514
From: Immigrant in the land of Deutsch
Joined: 07-14-2003
Member Rating: 8.7


(2)
Message 10 of 11 (648871)
01-19-2012 3:05 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Butterflytyrant
01-17-2012 5:29 PM


I'm dubious, frankly. They seem to be highly overtaking things to me, for these reasons:
1. Bakers yeast is unusual in being strictly unicellular. It evolved from multicellular ancestors.
2. Apoptosis occurs in many unicellular organisms, it seems a leap to think they're behaving in a multicellular way because of it.
3. Sticking together hardly counts as multicellular anyway.
But I've not read the paper yet, only the article.

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Blue Jay
Member (Idle past 2697 days)
Posts: 2843
From: You couldn't pronounce it with your mouthparts
Joined: 02-04-2008


(1)
Message 11 of 11 (649785)
01-25-2012 2:04 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by Wounded King
01-18-2012 7:05 AM


Hi, Wounded King.
Wounded King writes:
The actual paper is available through Open Access on the PNAS website.
It would be interesting to compare this with the similar previous observations on the unicellular algae chlorella (Boraas et al, 1998).
This was my original thought when I read this article. To me, this yeast research is really little more than a replication of the Chlorella work, which I had been taught during my undergraduate and have taught to my introductory-biology students. It kind of embarrassed and offended me when this new team came out touting their work as novel and unique.
They were apparently aware of Boraas et al. (1998), because they cited it in the introduction. However, I can't find anything in this new study that really, clearly differentiates it from the Chlorella experiment, so it was a real disappointment to me to see the way these researchers spun their work as profoundly novel for both the lay and technical audiences.
On the positive side, though, it was a very good study with very interesting results. I particularly liked their discussion of "within-cluster division of labor": that's the real key for understanding the transition from clusters of cells to true multicellularity. I hope it stimulates more interest in this area of research, because these sorts of case studies are excellent tools for demonstrating evolutionary principles in a classroom.

-Bluejay (a.k.a. Mantis, Thylacosmilus)
Darwin loves you.

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