Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
It's a case of evolutionary detective work. Biology researchers at Lewis & Clark College and the University of Arizona have found evidence for an ancient transfer of a toxin between ancestors of two very dissimilar organisms--spiders and a bacterium. But the mystery remains as how the toxin passed between the two organisms. Their research is published this month in the journal Bioinformatics, 22(3): 264-268, in an article titled "Lateral gene transfer of a dermonecrotic toxin between spiders and bacteria."
The toxin is uniquely found in the venom cocktail of brown or violin spiders, including the brown recluse, and in some Corynebacteria. The toxin from the spider's venom can kill flesh at the bite site; the bacterium causes various illnesses in farm animals.
*snip*
Cordes and Binford found a common structural motif at the end of both toxic proteins that is not found in any other proteins. Evidence for common ancestry (homology) of the toxins had previously been noted, but this uniquely shared structural bit is best explained by these toxins being more closely related to each other than they are to any other known protein."That one structural detail--which resembles a plug or cork at the end of a barrel-shaped enzyme--is evidence that the spider and bacterium share a relatively recent common ancestor," Cordes said. "Aside from being an example of lateral transfer between very distantly related organisms, this study is an unusual example of using structural motifs in proteins to answer questions about common ancestry when gene sequences are too different to be clear about these relationships."
But here is the interesting part:
"Understanding the importance of this structural motif in the toxic activity may help with developing treatments that minimize the effects of bites of brown recluse and their relatives. If this motif is central to protein function, treatments designed for the spider bites may also work for treating problems caused by the corynebacterial toxin," she added
So, understanding the evolutionary history of the toxin could lead to new treatments for several different illnesses. Nothing in biology makes sense without evolution indeed.
An abstract of the article is available here
Comments
Or, you could take it as clear evidence of Intelligent Design. This is just what the ID folks would claim as a validation of their idea, isn't it? Here are two quite unrelated creatures which share a common design at the molecular level. What better evidence that this protein was in fact designed by a designer?
Interesting, is it not, that the first such protein found is a poison. The intelligent designer hates us!
Posted by: Johnny Vector | February 2, 2006 6:13 PM