Journal article
Tunicates and not cephalochordates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates
Abstract
Show some backboneA phylogenetic comparison of the protein sequences of 146 genes from 14 deuterostome species has come up with a result that could alter current thinking on the origin of the vertebrates. Based on overall morphology and on complexity, it was thought that the cephalochordates (marine organisms known as lancelets, or in old textbooks as amphioxus) were the vertebrates' closest living relatives. Closer than the tunicates …
Authors
Delsuc F; Brinkmann H; Chourrout D; Philippe H
Journal
Nature, Vol. 439, No. 7079, pp. 965–968
Publisher
Springer Nature
Publication Date
February 2006
DOI
10.1038/nature04336
ISSN
0028-0836