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An international team led by Professor Itai YanaAi of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Department of Biology made the discovery after using an extraordinarily powerful technique known as CEL-Seq. CEL-Seq monitors individual cells for their gene activity (as detected via mRNA)-and they applied it across 10 different species, with CEL-Seq being applied to 70 embryos per species. In particular, they were interested in whether the animal classification of phylum-which separates animals into groups according to their body plans-is actually a useful tool for placing animals into groups, as well as what genetic attributes are the same and different between the different phyla.

Over recent decades, scientists have made various discoveries about DNA methylation and how vital it is to a number of cellular processes such as embryonic development, X-chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting, gene suppression, carcinogenesis and chromosome stability. Researchers have linked abnormal DNA methylation to several adverse outcomes, including human diseases.

Gene editing in embryos

Male rose-breasted grosbeaks have some red-pink feathers while females' are yellow and brown

The data comes from the open Tree of Life Project, a collaboration among biologists and other scientists around the world. It contains decades' worth of work in phylogeny, evolutionary history of and relationships among groups of organisms. The project is about a year away from a complete tree of all life, Rosindell said. He wanted a system in place that could visualize it as soon as it's ready. Right now, OneZoom only contains mammals, but that's still more than 5,000 species, all correlated with each other and color-coded according to their threat levels. Rosindell has big plans for the rest, and he even wants to build a searchable app for smartphones, showcasing the history and relationships between all life on Earth.