All articles tagged with #comb jellies
Volume electron microscopy reveals that the comb jelly’s aboral organ is a complex, brain-like center: about 900 cells in 17 types (11 new), with a dense nerve net converging on a central node and evidence of volume transmission—pushing back the origin of centralized nervous systems and showing they evolved in diverse forms long ago.
Researchers documented 15 comb jellies (ctenophores) in Colombia’s Caribbean and Pacific waters, including six species never recorded in the country before. Because these fragile organisms dissolve when nets are used, scientists relied on underwater photography and citizen science to catalog them, highlighting the rich biodiversity of gelatinous plankton and the value of non-invasive methods in remote marine exploration.
New research used chromosome-level gene-order analysis to compare 14 gene groups in comb jellies, sea sponges, and closely related single-celled relatives. The patterns show conserved gene positions in comb jellies and non-animal relatives but greater genomic rearrangement in sponges, identifying comb jellies as the earliest animal branch and the sister lineage to all other animals, prompting a rethink of how key animal features evolved.
A Nature feature traces a two-decade dispute over whether sponges or comb jellies are the earliest animal lineage, sparked by a 2008 genome study; with fossil evidence sparse, researchers call for a collaborative approach to uncover the fleeting genetic signals that could pinpoint the root of the animal family tree.
Scientists have identified the most recent ancestor of the sister to all animals via the novel use of chromosomal analysis, settling a central question about the evolution of the entire tree of animal life. The study has resolved the long-running debate over whether sea sponges or comb jellies are most closely related to the sister group. The team found 14 groups of genes that appeared on separate chromosomes in comb jellies and their single-celled, non-animal relatives, indicating that they are descendants of the sister group that broke from the animal family tree before the mixing occurred.
Scientists have identified the most recent ancestor of the sister to all animals through the use of chromosomal analysis, settling a long-running debate about the evolution of the entire tree of animal life. The study found that comb jellies are descendants of the sister group that broke from the animal family tree, before the mixing occurred. The findings resolve the controversial question over the lineage of the entire animal tree of life.
A new study suggests that comb jellies, a group of gelatinous creatures, belong to the deepest branch on the animal family tree, preceding sponges. The study relied on a new method for using DNA to track animal evolution, which found that comb jellies split off from other animals first. This raises intriguing new possibilities for what the common ancestor of living animals looked like, as early animals may have not been simple and spongelike, but equipped with nervous systems and muscles. Researchers are now looking to comb jellies to see how similar and different their nervous systems are from those of other animals.