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Origins of life

Common ancestry put to the test

Nature volume 465, pages 168–169 (2010)Cite this article

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The question of whether or not all life on Earth has an ultimate common origin is a subtle one, complicated by the phenomenon of lateral gene transfer. It has now been tackled with a formal statistical analysis.

Charles Darwin predicted and biologists accept the theory that all extant life traces back to a common ancestor. But how can we formally test the idea? There is a compelling list of circumstantial evidence — for instance, the 'universal' genetic code. However, addressing the question of common origin by applying formal statistical tests to the vast array of molecular sequences now available from all domains of life has long been a challenge. On page 219 of this issue, Theobald1 does just this, and concludes that the accepted view holds.

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Figure 1: Does extant life trace back to a common ancestor?

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Author notes

  1. David Penny: David Penny is at the Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Both authors are members of the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution. d.penny@massey.ac.nz

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mike Steel is in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. m.steel@math.cantebury.ac.nz,

    Mike Steel

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  1. Mike Steel
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  2. David Penny
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Steel, M., Penny, D. Common ancestry put to the test. Nature 465, 168–169 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/465168a

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