Animals are relatives of plants

If the " dynamic " and " static " standards, then it is indeed trees and different animals in the sky. But actually, they are more similar than you think, and according to the latest study: they are close relatives.

Biologist John Stiller from the University of East Carolina, USA, said that this kinship relationship is overshadowed by the long-standing tight view of the scientific community considering only the DNA sequence.

Plants, fungi and animals are all grouped into a group called eukaryotes, which is a group with complex cell machines. However, some of them, mostly fungi, have long been considered closer to animals than plants. Stiller's theory holds that fungi-like organisms should be demoted - farther away from animals. family tree - while raising the position of plants up high.

In the new report, Stiller gave evidence that animals and plants have at least four things in common:

- In both sexes, the cell cycle is controlled by the total switches. The mechanism of action and problems are the same in both groups. Stiller points to an example of the same problem: both animals and plants have tumors - the consequences of blunt growth cells.

"The difference is that plants can stop growth by defoliation, but humans and animals do not have that ability," he added.

In general, animals will have many things in common with trees.(Photo: Discovery)

- The second common point is how ARN genetic material works: on animals and plants, RNA is both an intermediary that helps decode DNA into proteins. But it is not present in mushrooms and other life forms.

- And like animals, plants also have an immune system. Stiller claims that plants must also have certain proteins and genes to help them cope with the invasion of viruses and bacteria.

- Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Stiller found a strong parallelism between the animal's nervous system and plant neurophysiology.

"Plants do not have true brain and nerve cells, but there are electrical signals that allow it to send and sense information," he explained. "Some proteins involved in this process are present in both groups".

"It is true that we do not have any firm ideas about close relatives of plants," said Brent Mishler, a biologist at Berkeley University in California. "But the theory that Stiller put forward is quite unusual and will have to be dissected a lot to convince the public."

T. An