700 million years ago, gene regulation sparked evolution among ancient ocean animals

Gene regulation is an innate biological phenomenon that enables an organism to toggle genes on and off with high precision.

Originally publisched by Srishti Gupta, at  interestingengineering.com,

on May 07, 2025

 

Representative image of a comb jelly. iStock

A recent finding is changing what scientists thought they understood about the history of controlling genes. Research conducted on cone jellies and sponges by the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Centre Nacional d’Anàlisi Genòmica (CNAG) in Spain indicates that distal regulation – the capacity to control genes from a distance – developed much earlier in evolutionary history than previously thought.

This sophisticated genomic mechanism is estimated to have developed from 650 to 700 million years ago, 150 million years earlier than previously thought, close to the very dawn of animal life.

“This creature could repurpose its genetic toolkit in different ways like a Swiss knife, enabling it to refine and explore innovative survival strategies. We did not expect this layer of complexity to be so ancient,” says Dr. Iana Kim, first author of the study.

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