Human beings are very similar to the first multicellular organisms on Earth, despite the fact that they lacked heads, legs or arms. This is what a new research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B concludes. In fact, as the study assures, fragments of them still remain within us.
According to a study by the University of California (United States), oceanic creatures from 555 million years ago (at the end of the Ediacaran period) share genes with many of today’s animals, including humans. The preserved fossil records of them have allowed Mary Droser, a geology professor at the University of California and study author Scott Evans, to associate the appearance and behavior of these animals with the genetic analysis of current animals.
To carry out the research, the scientists selected four animals from the more than forty recognized species of the Ediacaran period. The size of these animals varied remarkably, as some measured a few millimeters while others reached up to a meter in length. Among the species analyzed are the kimberella (a teardrop-shaped animal that lived at the bottom of the sea) and the ikaria (animals that were the size of a grain of rice and that crawled through organic matter).
All four animals were multicellular, with cells of different types. In addition, some of these species lacked limbs and even heads, so they had an appearance similar to a rounded bath mat.
Scientists have also discovered that some of these animals were able to repair damaged parts of their bodies through a process known as apoptosis. And, as research has shown, the genes involved in this process are key components of the human immune system, helping, for example, to eliminate cells infected by a virus or precancerous cells.
