Georgia's fossils on view

Protein fossils live on as RNA

A central challenge in genome annotation is determining the function of sequences that do not encode proteins, but make up the overwhelming bulk of large genomes — some 99% in humans. A significant fraction of these sequences are pseudogenes, or fossils of ancient proteins, and although many of them are transcribed into RNA, they have hitherto been deemed ‘junk’. However, given the abundance of...

A Quantitative Reassessment based on Plant Fossils

Fossils explained 54

Plesiosaurs may be divided into two general morphotypes, based on body shape. ‘Pliosauromorphs’ have a large head and a short neck—traditionally thought to be pliosaurs, while ‘plesiosauromorphs’ have a small head and long neck, and have been seen as plesiosauroids. This is in fact an oversimplification, and today, detailed analysis and investigations of plesiosaur anatomy suggest that these mo...

Fossils and plant phylogeny.

Developing a detailed estimate of plant phylogeny is the key first step toward a more sophisticated and particularized understanding of plant evolution. At many levels in the hierarchy of plant life, it will be impossible to develop an adequate understanding of plant phylogeny without taking into account the additional diversity provided by fossil plants. This is especially the case for relativ...

Acidophilic Collembola: living fossils?

The existence of two groups of acidophilic (mostly present in soils at pH less than 5) and acidintolerant Collembolan species has been demonstrated concurrently by several authors in the course of biocoenotic studies. The examination of morphological features points to a strong relationship between acidophily and hypothetical phyletic relationships between both groups. In the light of Earth his...