US researchers have taken a mouse back in time some 500 million years by reversing the process of evolution.
By engineering its genetic blueprint, they have rebuilt a gene that was present in primitive animals [some 530 million years ago.] ... "We are first to reconstruct an ancient gene," said co-researcher Petr Tvrdik of the University of Utah. "We have proven that from two specialised modern genes, we can reconstruct the ancient gene they split off from. ... "What we have done is essentially go back in time to when Hox1 did what Hoxa1 and Hoxb1 do today," said Mario Capecchi, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
"It gives a real example of how evolution works because we can reverse it." - bbc
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