Evolution Diary

This may be old news to some people but i just to post as a record for myself.

US researchers have taken a mouse back in time some 500 million years by reversing the process of evolution.

By engineering its genetic blueprint, they have rebuilt a gene that was present in primitive animals.

The ancient gene later mutated and split, giving rise to a pair of genes that play a key role in brain development in modern mammals.

The scientists say the experiments shed light on how evolution works and could lead to new gene therapy techniques.

“We are first to reconstruct an ancient gene,” said co-researcher Petr Tvrdik of the University of Utah. “We have proven that from two specialised modern genes, we can reconstruct the ancient gene they split off from.

“It illuminates the mechanisms and processes that evolution uses, and tells us more about how Mother Nature
engineers life.”

“It gives a real example of how evolution works because we can reverse it.”
Prof Mario Capecchi

Read whole arcticle at BBC