New Molecules Delineate an Ancient Tree of Life

摘要

It isn't often that the Hot Papers in Biology allow one to focus on science for the pure joy of discovery. Even the most esoteric investigations of detailed molecular biology usually tend to be highly cited because of some anticipated medical value. Not so the paper newly arrived at #7. Casey Dunn, of Brown University in Rhode Island, and his colleagues use a broad array of DNA sequencing and computational tools to confirm a new view of the animal tree of life that contains quite a few surprises for anyone who learned their zoology more than about 10 years ago. Older biologists, for example, will be familiar with the group known as coelomates, animals with a fluid-filled body cavity within the tissue known as mesoderm. The molecular trees admit of no such thing.