I have a question on:Amoebas and evolving...

[Twila]

Ok my thinking is that it would make since that amoebas are what evolved to living animals considering that they are hetrotrophs(sp?), and they move(so to speak) to capture "prey" but Im being told that living animals evolved from Choanoflagellates.... Im just confused at this point really..



thanks

[biohazard]

Currently it seems that choanoflagellates are the closest thing to the ancestors of multicellular animals. Amoebas, on the other hand, are unicellular, mobile heterothrophs and so in that sense they resemble choanoflagellants. However, genetic and molecular studies suggest that they do not make as good a candidate for the ancestors of "animals".

Could you maybe specify your problem a bit more? Just because amoebas are mobile "predators" does not necessarily mean they (or their ancestors actually) would evolve to multicellular organisms. Choanoflagellates are related to certain sponges (which are primitive animals), but amoebas are not.

[Twila]

oh you answered it. I didn't catch the fact that they were unicellular. I just assumed that they were multi-. yeah. This makes me think about the experiment by scientists Miller and Urey. (about creating an "early earth atmosphere" and shooting little jolts of electricity through and watching amino acids devolope and multiply. I think that is so interesting how nothing can form something like that...)