Catastrophic selection: the other side of the coin.

ABSTRACT

Recently, a machine learning molecular de-extinction paleoproteomic approach was used to recover inactivated antimicrobial peptides to overcome the challenges posed by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. The authors showed the possibility of identifying lost molecules with antibacterial capacity, but the other side of the coin associated with catastrophic selection should be considered for the development of new pharmaceuticals.

Hominids evolved with catastrophic selection through inactivation of genes/proteins with positive and negative effectsMachine learning paleoproteomic and paleogenomic approaches can identify and recover inactivated biomoleculesThese extinct biomolecules may be used to develop new pharmaceuticals; however possible negative effects should be considered.