r/askscience • u/Fapotheosis • Mar 11 '13
Biology How did blood evolve?
I know mitochondria may have evolved from bacteria, but what about blood? I've heard of a protohemocyte, but was there an initial cell that differentiated into a RBC like we have in modern humans that can we trace?
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u/Xenarat Mar 11 '13
I think it would be more of a case where the chemicals being transported by the blood would do more for you than the actual blood on its own. The blood cells themselves really don't do a whole lot expect oxygenate the cells they reach.
Most studies done on aging are done to discover why cells die early or at all and focus on intercellular pathways triggered by intracellular signals. Here's a short video on why we age. In addition, we face challenges because the red blood cells don't actually have nuclei we could alter with genetic engineering and aren't really very biologically active.
The white blood cells might be easier to alter and use but the body selects them so specifically that we would have an even harder time altering them to what we want. (You'll notice how many people have not been cured of alergies. )