Um artigo recentemente publicado na revista Science propõe uma forma nova de "árvore da vida" com base em dados genéticos.
Do comentário ao artigo (Finding branches of the Tree of Life):
In order to understand how evolution occurred, from the development of molecular networks to organ systems and the relationships of organisms, it is necessary to have a framework. Ciccarelli et al. (p. 1283) used genomic information to construct a tree that can be easily automated and updated. They started with 36 genes universally present in 191 species for which orthologs could be unambiguously identified. An important component was a procedure for identifying and removing apparent lateral gene transfer effects. Using this open-source resource, the authors confirmed phylogenetic relationships and put forward hypotheses about the ancestor to modern bacteria.
FDCiccarelli, TDoerks, ChMering,ChJCreevey, BSnel, PBork (2006). Toward Automatic Reconstruction of a Highly Resolved Tree of Life. Science 311 (5765): 1283 - 1287
Da conclusão do artigo:
[...]
The resulting tree of life will be an invaluable tool in many areas of biological research, ranging from classical taxonomy, via studies on the rate of evolution, to environmental genomics where DNA fragments of unknown phylogenetic origin need to be assigned.