Published in Nature Communications, an international team of researchers has achieved an unprecedented milestone: the creation of mouse stem cells capable of generating a fully developed mouse using genetic tools from a unicellular organism, with which we share a common ancestor that predates animals. This breakthrough reshapes our understanding of the genetic origins of stem cells, offering a new perspective on the evolutionary ties between animals and their ancient single-celled relatives.

In an experiment that sounds like science fiction, Dr Alex de Mendoza of Queen Mary University of London collaborated with researchers from The University of Hong Kong to use a gene found in choanoflagellates, a single-celled organism related to animals, to create stem cells which they then used to give rise to a living, breathing mouse.

Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of animals, and their genomes contain versions of the genes Sox and POU, known for driving pluripotency -- the cellular potential to develop into any cell type -- within mammalian stem cells.

This unexpected discovery challenges a longstanding belief that these genes evolved exclusively within animals.

"The study implies that key genes involved in stem cell formation might have originated far earlier than the stem cells themselves, perhaps helping pave the way for the multicellular life we see today."