Saintis telah menemui satu daripada organisma hidupan tertua dan mempunyai kaitan dengan manusia selepas dua dekad menjalankan penyelidikan ke atas sejenis mikroskopik yang tinggal di sebuah tasik di Norway.
Organisma yang dipanggil Collodictyon itu turut dikelaskan dalam kategori baru kerana ia didakwa bukan haiwan, tumbuhan, parasit, kulat atau alga.
Penyelidik dari Universiti Oslo, Dr. Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi berkata, penemuan organisma satu sel yang wujud kira-kira berbilion tahun dahulu dianggap sebagai sesuatu yang sangat unik.
"Setakat ini, kita belum menemui kumpulan organisma yang dekat dengan kehidupan manusia selain spesies ini," katanya.
Saintis percaya penemuan ini akan memberi satu dimensi baru mengenai kehidupan di bumi beratus-ratus juta tahun dahulu.
Collodictyon hidup di sebuah tasik kecil berlumpur bernama As, 30 kilometer dari sini dan memiliki empat ekor seperti kipas yang digunakan untuk bergerak yang dipanggil flagella.
Struktur organisma tersebut mengandungi sel nuklei yang dilitupi membran, yang membuatkan ia tidak menyerupai bakteria, namun lebih kepada eukaryotes yang wujud pada tumbuhan, kulat, alga dan haiwan, termasuk manusia.
Menggunakan karakteristik tersebut, Dr. Tabrizi beranggapan, Collodictyon merupakan makhluk yang mempunyai struktur seperti jejari yang digunakan bagi menangkap mangsa dan ia juga merupakan sejenis organisma menyendiri.
"Penemuan ini sangat menakjubkan selepas beberapa tahun kajian dijalankan," katanya yang membiakkan berjuta-juta organisma ini bagi tujuan kajian. - AGENSI
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After two decades of examining a microscopic algae-eater that lives in a lake in Norway, scientists on Thursday declared it to be one of the world’s oldest living organisms and man’s remotest relative.
The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms — it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they said.
“We have found an unknown branch of the tree of life that lives in this lake. It is unique!” University of Oslo researcher Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi said.
“So far we know of no other group of organisms that descends from closer to the roots of the tree of life than this species”, which has been declared a new category of organism called Collodictyon.
Scientists believe the discovery may provide insight into what life looked like on earth hundreds of millions of years ago.
Collodictyon lives in the sludge of a small lake called As, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Oslo.
It has four flagella — tail-like propellers it uses to move around, and can only be seen with a microscope. It is 30 to 50 micrometers (millions of a metre) long.
Like plants, fungi, algae and animals, including humans, Collodictyon are members of the eukaryote family that possess cell nuclei enclosed by membranes, unlike bacteria.
Using the characteristics of Collodictyon, scientists can now infer what prehistoric eukaryotes looked like, said Tabrizi — probably a single-cell organism with fingerlike structures that it used to catch microscopic prey.
“They are not sociable creatures,” added co-researcher Dag Klaveness, who bred millions of the tiny organisms for the study.
“They flourish best alone. Once they have eaten the food, cannibalism is the order of the day.”
They have not been found anywhere but in Lake As.
“It is quite fascinating that we can still find these kinds of organisms after so many years,” Tabrizi told AFP.
“It has been outside our living rooms for millions of years and we haven’t seen it.”
Collodictyon was first found in the lake about 20 years ago by University of Oslo scientists who recognised it was unusual but “didn’t know how important it was”, he added.
Organisma yang dipanggil Collodictyon itu turut dikelaskan dalam kategori baru kerana ia didakwa bukan haiwan, tumbuhan, parasit, kulat atau alga.
Penyelidik dari Universiti Oslo, Dr. Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi berkata, penemuan organisma satu sel yang wujud kira-kira berbilion tahun dahulu dianggap sebagai sesuatu yang sangat unik.
"Setakat ini, kita belum menemui kumpulan organisma yang dekat dengan kehidupan manusia selain spesies ini," katanya.
Saintis percaya penemuan ini akan memberi satu dimensi baru mengenai kehidupan di bumi beratus-ratus juta tahun dahulu.
Collodictyon hidup di sebuah tasik kecil berlumpur bernama As, 30 kilometer dari sini dan memiliki empat ekor seperti kipas yang digunakan untuk bergerak yang dipanggil flagella.
Struktur organisma tersebut mengandungi sel nuklei yang dilitupi membran, yang membuatkan ia tidak menyerupai bakteria, namun lebih kepada eukaryotes yang wujud pada tumbuhan, kulat, alga dan haiwan, termasuk manusia.
Menggunakan karakteristik tersebut, Dr. Tabrizi beranggapan, Collodictyon merupakan makhluk yang mempunyai struktur seperti jejari yang digunakan bagi menangkap mangsa dan ia juga merupakan sejenis organisma menyendiri.
"Penemuan ini sangat menakjubkan selepas beberapa tahun kajian dijalankan," katanya yang membiakkan berjuta-juta organisma ini bagi tujuan kajian. - AGENSI
---------------------------
After two decades of examining a microscopic algae-eater that lives in a lake in Norway, scientists on Thursday declared it to be one of the world’s oldest living organisms and man’s remotest relative.
The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms — it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they said.
“We have found an unknown branch of the tree of life that lives in this lake. It is unique!” University of Oslo researcher Kamran Shalchian-Tabrizi said.
“So far we know of no other group of organisms that descends from closer to the roots of the tree of life than this species”, which has been declared a new category of organism called Collodictyon.
Scientists believe the discovery may provide insight into what life looked like on earth hundreds of millions of years ago.
Collodictyon lives in the sludge of a small lake called As, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Oslo.
It has four flagella — tail-like propellers it uses to move around, and can only be seen with a microscope. It is 30 to 50 micrometers (millions of a metre) long.
Like plants, fungi, algae and animals, including humans, Collodictyon are members of the eukaryote family that possess cell nuclei enclosed by membranes, unlike bacteria.
Using the characteristics of Collodictyon, scientists can now infer what prehistoric eukaryotes looked like, said Tabrizi — probably a single-cell organism with fingerlike structures that it used to catch microscopic prey.
“They are not sociable creatures,” added co-researcher Dag Klaveness, who bred millions of the tiny organisms for the study.
“They flourish best alone. Once they have eaten the food, cannibalism is the order of the day.”
They have not been found anywhere but in Lake As.
“It is quite fascinating that we can still find these kinds of organisms after so many years,” Tabrizi told AFP.
“It has been outside our living rooms for millions of years and we haven’t seen it.”
Collodictyon was first found in the lake about 20 years ago by University of Oslo scientists who recognised it was unusual but “didn’t know how important it was”, he added.
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