#Lingula, Ancient Marine Animals Still Grow Genetically
#Lingula, Ancient Marine Animals Still Grow Genetically
The genetic code of Lingula is considered to be a source of evolutionary history of Brachiopoda and Lophotrochozoans and explains the origin of Biomineralisation. The team of scientists from Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Nagoya University, and University of Tokyo has now unveiled the secret genome of Lingulid Brachiopod for the first time in its genetic history. This source is obtained from the fossil Lingula Anatina collected in Amami Island, Japan.
Prof. Noriyuki Satoh said that this analysis is one step towards the unfolding of the mystery of animal evolution. This analysis was written in a paper published by Nature Communications, the scientists describe the results of the analysis covering more than 34,000 genes consisting of the Lingula Anatina genome which shows that the Lingula genome is still developing.
Genetic Evolution of Lingula Anatina
Many people assume that living fossils will resemble their fossil ancestors, not only in physical appearance but also in the genome. Like the Coelacanth considered to be living fossils, this species has the slowest rate of molecular evolution among vertebrates. While the Lingula genome has grown rapidly despite changes in appearance is still less significant.
The Lingula fossil shell exhibits considerable diversity in chemical structure, analysis of soft fossil tissue also shows morphological changes among the Brachiopoda lingulid. Scientists have also found significant changes in the genomes of family structures and genes, contrary to the idea of 'living fossils'. The Lingula gene is associated with a basic metabolism that explains the slowest evolutionary changes among Lophotrochozoans.
Lingula Anatina, an ancient sea animal
So far, Brachiopoda is a marine invertebrate with physical characteristics of shells and stalks. This animal mimics with Molluscs, but the resemblance is not so conspicuous. Unlike Bivalves or better known as shells and mussels, this species has a shell on the side of their body where the Brachiopod shell's side is above and below. The body of symmetry in the shells extends along the hinges, the two valves are mirror images of each other. The field of brachiopoda symmetry is perpendicular to the hinge, so that the valve portion is mirrored with each other.
Brachiopoda is considered as one of the first known animal specimens of the Biomineralisation species, where the organism processes live rigidly or harden with minerals. The Brachiopod fossils ever discovered are estimated to have lived in the early Cambrian period, some 520 million years ago. Brachiopoda very rapidly spread throughout the world and dominated the oceans during the Paleozoic period of about 542 to 251 million years ago, based on mineral shells found explaining the abundance of fossils.