Researchers from the i5K project have analyzed the genome of the common house spider and the Arizona bark scorpion. The researchers discovered that the copies of spider genes which show differences when they’re expressed. This may give us a better understanding about how the organisms breath, produce venom, and how they produce silk. They have also identified a whole genome duplication during the evolution of the two arthropods, and it’s said that they evolved from a common ancestor more than 400 million years ago. The finding of a whole genome duplication in spiders and scorpions allows a comparison to the genome duplications that occurred in the origin of vertebrates. This discovery could possibly help reveal processes and certain genes that have been critical in human evolution.
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