What is it about?

This study reconstructs the family tree of blood cells over the 700-million-year span, and illustrates that the blood cells circulating in our bodies can be regarded as a successful expansion of the legacy left by our single-celled ancestors. First, early animals generated the first macrophage-like blood cells by repurposing genetic material inherited from single-celled ancestors. Afterwards, mast cells firstly branched off from the macrophages. Prototypic T cells and red blood cells subsequently branched off from the mast cells, while prototypic B cells branched off from the macrophages after the segregation of mast cells. Of note, this evolutionary history has been imprinted in our bodies as differentiation pathways of blood cells. Therefore, our blood is a memory of where we came from.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This study revealed unexpected close relationship between mast cells, T cells, and red blood cells, and a different evolutionary trajectory of T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes. This study also provide a method to estimate evolutionary history of cell lineages or cell status which can be applied to non-blood cells and diseases.

Perspectives

"I feel deeply moved by these findings, which represent the culmination of our work and illustrate that the differentiation pathways of vertebrate blood cells reflect the 700-million-year evolutionary history of these cells." (Hiroshi Kawamoto) "When I let it sink in that this legacy from so long ago is circulating within my body as blood cells, I feel closer to our distant ancestors." (Yosuke Nagahata)

Yosuke Nagahata
Institut de Biologia Evolutiva

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Animals have expanded the evolutionary legacy of unicellular ancestors in blood cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2528110123.
You can read the full text:

Read

Resources

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page