Centipedes give scientists a leg up in understanding evolution

 

 

They may be horrifying to most people, but centipedes just might be able to help explain the evolution of life on our planet.

 

In a new study published in the journal PLOS Biology, an international team of scientists outlined how they gained new insight into how life moved from the oceans onto land, by examining the DNA sequence of centipedes.

 

Centipedes are part of the arthropod phylum, a group of animals characterized by bilateral symmetry, a segmented body covered by a hard exoskeleton, jointed legs, and many pairs of limbs. For this study, the researchers sequenced the genome of the Strigamia maritima because of it’s relatively primitive features.

 

According to Professor Ariel Chipman, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Science, the data they obtained shows how primordial life forms transitioned from water to dry land.

 

“The use of different evolutionary solutions to similar problems shows that myriapods and insects adapted to dry land independently of each other,” said Chipman, senior co-author of the study and project leader. Chipman explained that centipedes don’t have the olfactory gene family that insects use to smell the air, which means that they developed their own air-sniffing ability by expanding a different gene family.

 

Over 100 scientists from 50 institutions took part in the study, dividing the workload so that each researcher only looked at a limited set of genes or at a specific structural characteristic. Possible research applications range from conservation to dealing with pests.

 

“If we have a better understanding of the biological world around us, how it operates, and how it came to be as it is, we will ultimately have a better understanding of ourselves.” — TJD, GMA News