ancestor

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ancestor

an early type of animal or plant from which a later, usually dissimilar, type has evolved

References in classic literature ?

We may often falsely attribute to correlation of growth, structures which are common to whole groups of species, and which in truth are simply due to inheritance; for an ancient progenitor may have acquired through natural selection some one modification in structure, and, after thousands of generations, some other and independent modification; and these two modifications, having been transmitted to a whole group of descendants with diverse habits, would naturally be thought to be correlated in some necessary manner.

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They are a noble-looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of the ages.

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When I speak of the "earliest accounts I possess of my progenitors," authentic information is meant only; for, like other races, we have certain dark legends that might possibly carry us back again to the old world in quest of our estates and privileges.

The embarkation, or shipment of my progenitors, whichever may be the proper expression, occurred in the height of the last general war, and, for a novelty, it occurred in an English ship.

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Yet, might I presume to say so, the gem would make a rare sepulchral lamp, and would display the glories of your lordship's progenitors more truly in the ancestral vault than in the castle hall.

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While the embryonic brain glial progenitors generate this cellular diversity, In the adult brain progenitor competence becomes restricted to generation of few cell types.

Rebuildcns: Redirecting glial progenitor fate to rebuild the injured brain

Unless the progenitor cells that will form the heart are specified at the correct time, migrate to the correct location, and differentiate into the correct cell types, severe malformations of the heart occur.

From Stem Cells to a Functional Heart

When the patients were treated with the drug imatinib (Glivec), which blocks the effect of stem cell factor, the number of mature mast cells dropped, while the number of progenitor cells did not change.

New insight into how immune cells are formed

Frequency Therapeutics develops small molecule drugs that activate progenitor cells within the body to restore healthy tissue.

Frequency Therapeutics Raises USD 32m; Will Support Clinical Development of Hearing Restoration Therapy

The journal Hypertension Research reported finding an increase in endothelial progenitor cells and a decrease in free radicals in association with supplementation with taurine and magnesium.

Taurine and magnesium decrease markers of cardiovascular disease progression

August 25, 2016 -- Researchers here have for the first time created kidney progenitor cells that survive in the lab using 3-D culture and a mix of supporting molecules.

Endless supply of kidney precursor cells results from new technology

Despite years of observations, astronomers so far haven't been able to reconstruct the details of the progenitor star's explosion, which was triggered when its iron core collapsed into the neutron star.