There has been a huge controversy between the scientists and specialist about the first ancestors of animals. Well, it was earlier believed that sponge is the first living being to entitle its names in the animal tree. However, this traditional belief may now be changed as a group of new-gen researchers have now claimed that the first ever animal species to take birth and live upon the planet were marine jellies.
According to News Nation, the group of researchers took the charge to find out the real truth behind this. They went through deep with the study of animal evolution by examining it from the genetic level. The report stated that the group first went through a total of 18 controversial phylogenetic relationships. These samples included seven from animals alongside one as marine jellies, five from plants and six from fungi. In the process, the team studied all the relationships in terms of their comparison of individual genes among these species.
The study went on genetic perspective, evolving with hundreds of thousands of genes of each species. The researchers majorly focused their research on one gene clinched hypothesis of one over another type. The process led to a shocking yet surprising result through phylogenetic signaling technique. The study finally revealed that marine Jellies stand tall in the race with more gene counts which eventually make them as the "first to diverge" over the existence of sponges. The study was even published on highly-respected 'Nature Ecology & Evolution journal with the title "Resolution of contentious relationships in phylogenomic studies can be driven by one or a handful of genes," as per a report by R&D Magazine.
The research qualified as a potential take in establishing the fact that not the sponges, but the Comb Jellies or what is also known as marine jellies were the first ever animals to see life on the Earth. The research was jointly held by the group of scientists from Vanderbilt University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
