Universal Tree of Life

[AcuraGuy]

How is the Tree of Life rooted?

Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya are all rooted in the Tree of Life, but it could not have been rooted using an outgroup, since no living organisms fall outside this clade. So, how could the tree be rooted? What could the last universal common ancestor be?

Here is a picture of the tree.
http://image57.webshots.com/57/8/33/53/2537833530053271504pvyaEH_fs.jpg

Thanks

[James]

Still being debated, look at http://www.tolweb.org/Life_on_Earth/1. There are many links at the bottom.

[Dov Henis]

How is the Tree of Life rooted?...
So, how could the tree be rooted? What could the last universal common ancestor be?

Study of Life's Base
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1 ... G_Q--?cq=1

(A)

Scientism and "evolutionary thinking" suggest that the study of the nature of life must be focused on the nature of the presently known earliest genes and on the probable nature of their probable earlier editions, backwards to the treshold of formation-transition of pre-RNA chemicals into their self-replicating RNA editions, in the company of their precursors and of the predecessors of the precursors.

(B)

Most probable conjecture of the constellation of the Stealthy Life Genesis:

(1) In a (need composition definition) aqueous medium are present all components of the early "replicating configurations" plus all the predecessors of those components, and (2) the energy balance of each of the progressing (steps) reactions, along the direction from the base elements level up to the replicator, are always forward-favoured, so that in the presence of all the required elements the replicator's formation energetically draws the progressive reactions.

The starting clues are, of course, the earliest available mono-cellular compositions and their in-cell processes, and the starting unknown variables are the systems' base molecules and the systems' energetic circumstances.

(C)

The essential early events of the energy-contents-driven "chemicals-to-life" progression comprise single-strand base extensions and ligations. Later steps include DNA formation.

All the consecutive steps in the progression are energy-contents-driven. Thus the chemicals-to-life transit is not a single dramatic step/rung of the ladder but consists of multi-small-steps/rungs and, due to variations in circumstances and in-line with the fractal nature of everything in the environments, it is random/stochastic.

(D)

I conjecture life's genesis much earlier than celling of genes. I suggest that genomes are communal coops of what way back originally were RNA independent genes, these various/different genes being then the first proliferrable life forms. Evolution and survival directed them and their DNA progeny to become united, chromosomes and genomes, simply because cooperation is the most survivable mode, and the further process of evolution included celling for control of environmental parameters plus ever increasing member genes specialization as more capabilities evolve by some individual members of the commune of genes.

Dov

[AcuraGuy]

Thanks Dov, you have some good theories. I was also leaning toward Woese's theory which can be read here.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/95/12/6854?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=universal+ancestor&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT#B14

[Dov Henis]

[quote="AcuraGuy"] I was also leaning toward Woese's theory which can be read here. quote]

Genesis And Life

Carl Woese ( June 9, 1998 ):
"The ancestor ( of life ) cannot have been a particular organism, a single organismal lineage. It was communal (13, 22), a loosely knit, diverse conglomeration of primitive cells that evolved as a unit, and it eventually developed to a stage where it broke into several distinct communities, which in their turn become the three primary lines of descent".

Dov Henis:
Earth life's genesis cannot have been cell(s). Cells, like all (every) objects and processes and natural laws in the universe, are - since singularity - products of evolution and are continuously further evolving. Everything in the cosmos is fractal, rehappens on many scales, and is continuously evolving. Each and every system in the universe continuously evolves within the total universal evolution and all the systems' evolutions are intertwined. Thus the root of earth's life cannot have been deus-ex-machina cells. Cells cannot have been but one of the forms of products of evolution of energy-transformation-storage systems, since at the beginning was the energy singularity, at the end will be near zero mass and an infinite dispersion of the beginning energy, and in-between, the universe undergoes continuous evolution consisting of myriad energy-to-energy and energy-to-mass-to-energy transformations. Therefore the roots of earth-life's genesis must have been much earlier than the celling of genes, in cosmic phenomena of active temporary reservoirs or pockets or bubbles of energy, on Earth in the form of individual RNA genes life
.

Dov

[Dov Henis]

I was also leaning toward Woese's theory which can be read here. quote]

Genesis And Life

Carl Woese ( June 9, 1998 ):
"The ancestor ( of life ) cannot have been a particular organism, a single organismal lineage. It was communal (13, 22), a loosely knit, diverse conglomeration of primitive cells that evolved as a unit, and it eventually developed to a stage where it broke into several distinct communities, which in their turn become the three primary lines of descent".

Dov Henis:
Earth life's genesis cannot have been cell(s). Cells, like all (every) objects and processes and natural laws in the universe, are - since singularity - products of evolution and are continuously further evolving. Everything in the cosmos is fractal, rehappens on many scales, and is continuously evolving. Each and every system in the universe continuously evolves within the total universal evolution and all the systems' evolutions are intertwined. Thus the root of earth's life cannot have been deus-ex-machina cells. Cells cannot have been but one of the forms of products of evolution of energy-transformation-storage systems, since at the beginning was the energy singularity, at the end will be near zero mass and an infinite dispersion of the beginning energy, and in-between, the universe undergoes continuous evolution consisting of myriad energy-to-energy and energy-to-mass-to-energy transformations. Therefore the roots of earth-life's genesis must have been much earlier than the celling of genes, in cosmic phenomena of active temporary reservoirs or pockets or bubbles of energy, on Earth in the form of individual RNA genes life.

Dov

[Schröder]

Hmm....I was never a person who accepted this view of life being mapped using the anology of tree. Evolution is not linear so its more of a shrub with many branches than a tree.