Animal Evolution: Only Rocks Can Set the Clock
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Molecular clocks have become the method of choice to date the tree of life. A new study demonstrates that there are limits to their precision, which may only be overcome by improving our knowledge of the fossil record.
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Ctenophora have a controversial phylogenetic position and limited data and technical amenability, making them difficult candidates for comparative neurobiology.
“In addition to the controversial phylogenetic position of the Ctenophora [14,15], a paucity of data and limited amenability to technical approaches make these animals difficult candidates for comparative studies of neurobiology.”
From Back to the Basics: Cnidarians Start to Fire (2017) · cites this paper as [15]
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“5 million years ago [1-4,10]) is rather more speculative.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationPaleontological Evidence to Date the Tree of Life
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Estimating the timing of early eukaryotic diversification with multigene molecular clocks
Parfrey, L. W., Lahr, D. J. G., Knoll, A. H., & Katz, L. A. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1110633108 · Cited by 899 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Indeed, most recent studies [1-4] broadly agree that the Cambrian explosion (the great animal diversification event that happened ~520 million years ago) should principally be seen as the time when most modern”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialLow Mid-Proterozoic atmospheric oxygen levels and the delayed rise of animals
Planavsky, N. J., Reinhard, C. T., Wang, X., Thomson, D., McGoldrick, P., Rainbird, R. H., Johnson, T., Fischer, W. W., & Lyons, T. W. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1258410 · Cited by 768 · see citing works
Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period
Love, G. D., Grosjean, E., Stalvies, C., Fike, D. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Bradley, A. S., Kelly, A. E., Bhatia, M., Meredith, W., Snape, C. E., et al. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature07673 · Cited by 731 · cited 1× · see citing works
“tree) or early members of modern crown groups? Older records of metazoans from the early Ediacaran and the Cryogenian are even more equivocal, and are limited to recently reported 600 million year old fossils of putative sponge-like organisms [15] and possible demosponge biomarkers [16] from strata dated to 715–635 mi…”
BackgroundReading the entrails of chickens: molecular timescales of evolution and the illusion of precision
Graur, D., & Martin, W. (2004) · Trends in Genetics · doi:10.1016/j.tig.2003.12.003 · Cited by 669 · see citing works
Uncertainty in the Timing of Origin of Animals and the Limits of Precision in Molecular Timescales
dos Reis, M., Thawornwattana, Y., Angelis, K., Telford, M. J., Donoghue, P. C. J., & Yang, Z. (2015) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.09.066 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Co-evolution of eukaryotes and ocean oxygenation in the Neoproterozoic era
Lenton, T. M., Boyle, R. A., Poulton, S. W., Shields-Zhou, G. A., & Butterfield, N. J. (2014) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo2108 · Cited by 424 · cited 1× · see citing works
“When did animals (the Metazoa) evolve [1-4]? Can we correlate the evolutionary history of animals with specific events in Earth history to understand what drove their origin and subsequent diversification [1-4]? For example, was the origin of animals triggered by the emergence of modern, well-oxygenated oceans [5], or…”
BackgroundSponge grade body fossil with cellular resolution dating 60 Myr before the Cambrian
Yin, Z., Zhu, M., Davidson, E. H., Bottjer, D. J., Zhao, F., & Tafforeau, P. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1414577112 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Poriferan paraphyly and its implications for Precambrian palaeobiology
Sperling, E. A., Pisani, D., & Peterson, K. J. (2007) · Geological Society, London, Special Publications · doi:10.1144/sp286.25 · Cited by 206 · cited 1× · see citing works
“When did animals (the Metazoa) evolve [1-4]? Can we correlate the evolutionary history of animals with specific events in Earth history to understand what drove their origin and subsequent diversification [1-4]? For example, was the origin of animals triggered by the emergence of modern, well-oxygenated oceans [5], or…”
BackgroundSelf-citationLiu, A. G., Mcllroy, D., & Brasier, M. D. (2010) · Geology · doi:10.1130/g30368.1 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Self-citationHuldtgren, T., Cunningham, J. A., Yin, C., Stampanoni, M., Marone, F., Donoghue, P. C. J., & Bengtson, S. (2011) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1209537 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
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Self-citationBattistuzzi, F. U., Billing-Ross, P., Murillo, O., Filipski, A., & Kumar, S. (2015) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msv075 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
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Integrated genomic and fossil evidence illuminates life’s early evolution and eukaryote origin
Betts, H. C., Puttick, M. N., Clark, J. W., Williams, T. A., Donoghue, P. C. J., & Pisani, D. (2018) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0644-x · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Self-citationBack to the Basics: Cnidarians Start to Fire
Bosch, T. C. G., Klimovich, A., Domazet-Lošo, T., Gründer, S., Holstein, T. W., Jékely, G., Miller, D. J., Murillo-Rincon, A. P., Rentzsch, F., Richards, G. S., et al. (2017) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2016.11.005 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Current understanding on the Cambrian Explosion: questions and answers
Zhang, X., & Shu, D. (2021) · PalZ · doi:10.1007/s12542-021-00568-5 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Kocot, K. M. (2016) · Organisms Diversity & Evolution · doi:10.1007/s13127-015-0261-3 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Harrison, T. M. (2020) · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46687-9 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pisani, D., & Liu, A. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pisani, Davide
- Venue
- Current Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-11
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- R1079-R1081
- ISSN
- 0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2177762597
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 5
- FWCI
- 1.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Department of Earth Sciences EPrints Repository (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J009709/1)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L011409/1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Keywords
- molecular clock, divergence time estimation, animal evolution, fossil record, phylogenetic dating, precision limits, tree of life
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biological Evolution, Fossils, Phylogeny, Evolution, Molecular
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