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Nature 431, 134-137 (9 September 2004) | doi:10.1038/431134a; Published online 8 September 2004

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Evolutionary biology:  Early evolution comes full circle

William Martin1 & T. Martin Embley2

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Biologists use phylogenetic trees to depict the history of life. But according to a new and roundabout view, such trees are not the best way to summarize life's deepest evolutionary relationships.

Charles Darwin described the evolutionary process in terms of trees, with natural variation producing diversity among progeny and natural selection shaping that diversity along a series of branches over time. But in the microbial world things are different, and various schemes have been devised to take both traditional and molecular approaches to microbial evolution into account.

  1. William Martin is at the Institut für Botanik III, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
    e-mail: Email: w.martin@uni-duesseldorf.de
  2. T. Martin Embley is in the School of Biology, The Devonshire Building, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.
    e-mail: Email: martin.embley@ncl.ac.uk

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