By Dean Murray via SWNS
Scientists have created a mouse using ancient molecular tools that are older than animal life.
An international team of researchers achieved an unprecedented milestone with the creation of mouse stem cells capable of generating a living, breathing mouse.
By taking a gene from single-celled lifeforms and introducing it into mouse cells, researchers were able to create stem cells. To validate the efficacy of these reprogrammed cells, they were injected into a developing mouse embryo.
The resulting chimeric mouse displayed physical traits from both the donor embryo and the lab-induced stem cells, such as black fur patches and dark eyes, confirming that these ancient genes played a crucial role in making stem cells compatible with the animal’s development.
The discovery has implications beyond evolutionary biology, potentially informing new advances in regenerative medicine.
Dr. Alex de Mendoza of Queen Mary University of London collaborated with researchers from The University of Hong Kong to use a gene found in choanoflagellates, a single-celled organism related to animals, to create the stem cells
Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals, and their genomes contain versions of the genes Sox and POU, known for driving pluripotency — the cellular potential to develop into any cell type — within mammalian stem cells. This unexpected discovery challenges a longstanding belief that these genes evolved exclusively within animals.
“By successfully creating a mouse using molecular tools derived from our single-celled relatives, we’re witnessing an extraordinary continuity of function across nearly a billion years of evolution,” said Dr. de Mendoza. “The study implies that key genes involved in stem cell formation might have originated far earlier than the stem cells themselves, perhaps helping pave the way for the multicellular life we see today.”
This novel insight emphasizes the evolutionary versatility of genetic tools and offers a glimpse into how early life forms might have harnessed similar mechanisms to drive cellular specialization, long before true multicellular organisms came into being, and into the importance of recycling in evolution.
By deepening our understanding of how stem cell machinery evolved, scientists may identify new ways to optimize stem cell therapies and improve cell reprogramming techniques for treating diseases or repairing damaged tissue.
“Studying the ancient roots of these genetic tools lets us innovate with a clearer view of how pluripotency mechanisms can be tweaked or optimized,” Dr. Jauch said, noting that advancements could arise from experimenting with synthetic versions of these genes that might perform even better than native animal genes in certain context.
