Concerns about the speed of biological clocks

2000/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Eboluzioa

Mutations occur very regularly in mitochondrial DNA, so the process is taken as the basis of the biological clock to measure evolution. Researchers at the University of Missouri have again measured the speed of the biological clock of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and have seen that it is a hundred times faster than expected. The result cannot be directly extrapolated to humans or other species, but if the measurement is checked the age of the species should be recalculated. It is possible that, as some controversial studies indicate, the division between human beings and chimpanzees and the appearance of modern man has occurred later than expected.