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New branch on Tree of Life

W

Wishful

Senior Member
Messages
5,750
Location
Alberta
https://newatlas.com/biology/tree-of-life-new-branch-unique-predator-organisms/'

"Scientists have discovered a completely new branch on the tree of life. This “supergroup” contains an incredibly diverse range of predatory microbes that are extremely different genetically from any other form of life on Earth."

“This is an ancient branch of the tree of life that is roughly as diverse as the animal and fungi kingdoms combined, and no one knew it was there,”

I"m not suggesting these organisms as the cause of ME, but I find it amazing that something so vast has only been discovered recently. Could we have diseases from these organisms, which won't be detected by today's medical tests because no one has known to look for them? It's almost a sure thing that there are new medicines to be discovered from them.
 
Nord Wolf

Nord Wolf

The Northman
Messages
587
Location
New England
Fascinating! Though not so surprising to hear it is just being discovered considering the sheer complexity of life, and the rather finite focus of the scientific fields. Sort of like the exploration of the oceans, of which we still know very little... and they cover far more than half the globe.

From the article:

“In the taxonomy of living organisms, we often use the gene ‘18S rRNA’ to describe genetic difference,” said Dr. Denis Tikhonenkov, first author of the study. “For example, humans differ from guinea pigs in this gene by only six nucleotides. We were surprised to find that these predatory microbes differ by 170 to 180 nucleotides in the 18S rRNA gene from every other living thing on Earth. It became clear that we had discovered something completely new and amazing.”

That is a pretty substantial difference and certainly opens the door to very real potentials for our lack of comprehension of so many health imbalances.

Good find @Wishful
 
Rufous McKinney

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,389
Nord Wolf said:
Sort of like the exploration of the oceans, of which we still know very little... and they cover far more than half the globe.
Click to expand...

You have to look, in order to see. Sometimes, you can't look. It takes a new form of seeing, to actually look (eg. invent electron microscope, now we can actually SEE a tardigrade space being)

I was originally an aquatic biologist, I studied planktonic organisms in lakes. Algae/zoo plankton.

Out in oceans, they' d drop nets and pull up samples. But we could not "see" the actual creature, damaged by nets, and changes in pressure. We pull up a blob.

Later, we discovered miles of tentacles, remarkable gelatinous webs and wings. We did not understand what we in fact were seeing.
 
Rufous McKinney

Rufous McKinney

Senior Member
Messages
13,389
Wishful said:
This “supergroup” contains an incredibly diverse range of predatory microbes that are extremely different genetically from any other form of life on Earth."
Click to expand...

comment- new life forms are pouring forth from the permafrost. Things not seen in many many "years".

Could prove interesting, stay tuned.
 
L

lenora

Senior Member
Messages
4,926
If we look back at history, there has always been something to "conquer" shall we say? Why should the era of our lives be any different?

Yes, I'm sure that there will be illnesses that we have no name for today. We have to be prepared for this as it has often been over the course of human life. We've been fortunate through most of our lives....no real diseases. I can very well remember quarantine for things like measles, chicken pox and the like. It was a necessity and not much fun.....we were quarantined. It's like wearing a scarlet letter.

Immunizations help overcome this problem. Still, people don't understand what these diseases can do to masses of people today. If we read history, we can see where we're headed . There will probably be another type of influenza, this year already shows outbreaks of COVD, RSV (which used to be in newborns only), the flu and now even a pocket of outbreak of Measles. The latter is dangerous for not just children but pregnant women as it can cause severe fetal problems.

True, I was a nurse (many, many years ago) and saw firsthand what disease could do. So, yes....this is most likely something we'll face again. We've had "breathing room" for the last few decades but as new things are discovered we do have to think ahead. I don't envy those who are in top positions as they'll be blamed for things that are really out of their control. Yours, Lenora
 
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