“One Origin of the Genetic Code, but Two Origins of Life”: Scientists Reveal the Ancient Evolutionary Split That Gave Rise to All Life on Earth
Researchers have identified how the last common ancestor of all life on Earth (LUCA) split into two distinct branches: bacteria and archaea. The study analyzes ancient metabolic processes to understand how early life adapted to different environments four billion years ago.
Why it matters
Understanding the origins of life provides fundamental insights into evolutionary biology and the chemical conditions necessary for life to emerge and diversify.
An international research team has uncovered how LUCA, the last common ancestor of all life on Earth , split into the first two branches of organisms—bacteria and archaea—allowing life to thrive innew conditions and spread to other biomes.
Scientists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) led the research, revealing their findings in a recent paper published in Science Advances , investigating these early cells’ metabolisms.
The team discovered that the chemical reactions and energy sources behind these two types of cells told unique stories of separate evolutions , in new work that sheds light on the primordial processes that gave rise to some of Earth ’s first free-living cells.
Roughly four billion years ago, life on Earth emerged as the first cells formed, most likely at hydrothermal vents, before evolving to explore new biomes.
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