The co-evolution of life and Earth

Abstract

(Current Biology 16, R395–R400; June 6, 2006) In our recent primer, “The Co-Evolution of Life and Earth,” when discussing the evolution of hydrogenosomes (“Example 2”), we accidently wrote “Recently, genetic material was extracted from the hydrogenosome of Trichomonas ovalis ….” There is no organism called “Trichomonas ovalis.” Rather, we meant to write “Nyctotherus ovalis.” For more details on the evolutionary relationship between mitochondria and hydrogenosomes, we refer the reader to a recent review article on the topic by Johannes Hackstein et al., accessible online in the journal Current Genetics (DOI: 10.1007/s00299-006-0088-8). The co-evolution of life and EarthDietrich et al.Current BiologyJune 06, 2006In BriefIt has long been recognized that deciphering the relationship between the history of life on Earth and the history of the planet is a profound task. Recent technological innovations in both the earth and life sciences have made this task more tractable than ever before, leading to the emergence of the discipline of geobiology — the study of how organisms have influenced, and been influenced by, the Earth's environment. Along with enthusiasm for this new field, however, has come confusion, as geobiology combines highly specialized and historically separate fields. Full-Text PDF Open Archive