The NEW Tree of Life

For a century after Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, scientists could compare only physical features to describe evolutionary lineages. The picture that resulted was often illustrated as a Tree of Life.

 In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA – the molecular basis of genes – and showed how they encode the instructions that determine the form of every organism. Now, decades later, powerful new technologies permit comparisons of DNA and RNA, yielding detailed, objective information on the evolutionary connections between organisms. This has led to development of a new, genetically based Tree of Life, which allows deeper insight into the evolution of species than their physical features alone.

But tracing the evolution of the billions of organisms and species that have existed on Earth over billions of years will be a never-ending process in which the Tree of Life itself will evolve continuously and, along the way, provide important clues to life’s origin.

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Sources: About the Tree Diagram

The tree presented here is adapted from F.D. Ciccarelli, et al., Science 311, 1283 (2006), except for the placement of the thermotogae/cyanobacteria branch group, which was placed next to the firmicutes to reflect more recent investigations [P. Puigbò, et al., J. Biol 8, 59 (2009)]. Note that the exact relationship of the Eukaryota to the Archaea is still under debate [S. Gribaldo, et al., Nature Rev. Microbiol. 8, 743 (2010)], as is the placement of the root of the Eukaryota branch [S. L. Baldauf, Science 300, 1703 (2003)].

Credits: Images

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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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Jeffrey L. Behrend
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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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Mike Spilde
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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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P. Boston
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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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P. Boston
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P. Boston
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Dave Bunnell on a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.5 license
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P. Boston
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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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Image by Susannah M. Porter, used with permission from the Paleontological Society
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Image by Susannah M. Porter, used with permission from the Paleontological Society
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M. Spilde & P. Boston
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Janice Carr, gnu free documentation license
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Adapted from Ernst H. P. A. Haeckel's 1904 Kunstformen der Natur
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Flagstaffotos.com.au, licensed under the Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 License
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Image copyright Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.; colorized by Suzi Tucker Design.
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Image copyright Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.
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Image copyright Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.
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Courtesty Charles F. Delwiche www.life.umd.edu/labs/delwiche
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
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