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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.

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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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