A Major Evolutionary Enigma Solved: How Simple Cells Gave Rise to Complex Ones

A new study examines a “universal and mathematically clear relationship” between the average length of genes and their variability, which holds from the simplest bacteria to organisms as complex as vertebrates. César de la Fuente, PhD, a Presidential Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Microbiology, Bioengineering, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Chemistry, who was not involved in the study, considers the work published in the scientific journal PNAS “fascinating for tackling one of the great mysteries of biology in an innovative way.”