Scientists Reveal LUCA - Common Ancestor Of All Living Things On Earth
- 8 years ago
Many scientists believe that all living entities on Earth originated from an ancient organism called LUCA which stands for the Last Universal Common Ancestor.
Many scientists believe that all living entities on Earth originated from an ancient organism called LUCA which stands for the Last Universal Common Ancestor.
The single-celled being likely lived around 4 billion years ago and is thought to have eventually spawned three distinct groups of living organisms--bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes.
Now, a team led by William F. Martin of Heinrich Heine University has released a new study which aims to “reconstruct the microbial ecology of LUCA.”
For the research, the scientists tested 286,514 protein clusters and found that 355 protein families likely descended from LUCA.
Based on the attributes of this select group, the scientists theorize that LUCA was able to withstand hot temperatures and live on hydrogen and carbon dioxide instead of oxygen; it also needed metals to be in the surrounding environment.
These combined attributes seem to indicate that this so-called universal ancestor lived in a habitat similar to a hot and gassy deep sea vent.
Despite the team’s findings, critics point out that additional information is needed to prove where life began.
Many scientists believe that all living entities on Earth originated from an ancient organism called LUCA which stands for the Last Universal Common Ancestor.
The single-celled being likely lived around 4 billion years ago and is thought to have eventually spawned three distinct groups of living organisms--bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes.
Now, a team led by William F. Martin of Heinrich Heine University has released a new study which aims to “reconstruct the microbial ecology of LUCA.”
For the research, the scientists tested 286,514 protein clusters and found that 355 protein families likely descended from LUCA.
Based on the attributes of this select group, the scientists theorize that LUCA was able to withstand hot temperatures and live on hydrogen and carbon dioxide instead of oxygen; it also needed metals to be in the surrounding environment.
These combined attributes seem to indicate that this so-called universal ancestor lived in a habitat similar to a hot and gassy deep sea vent.
Despite the team’s findings, critics point out that additional information is needed to prove where life began.