The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) finally reconstructed! | Deep Evolution News скачать в хорошем качестве

The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) finally reconstructed! | Deep Evolution News

The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) of all life on Earth has just had its genome reconstructed by an international team of scientists! This groundbreaking discovery reveals that LUCA was far more complex and ancient than we ever imagined, with adaptations that helped it thrive in the primordial oceans billions of years ago. By tracing the genes found in the three main branches of life—bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes—researchers uncovered a genome with over 2,600 protein-coding genes, indicating a level of sophistication comparable to modern bacteria. LUCA lived in an Earth dominated by reducing gases like hydrogen, methane, and ammonia, and likely thrived through a process called acetogenesis, converting carbon dioxide and hydrogen into organic compounds. This finding suggests that life on Earth, and potentially on other planets, could develop complexity relatively quickly in astronomical terms. This has deep implications for astrobiology and the prospect of life on other planets including exoplanets. Moreover, LUCA's genome hints at an early immune system, indicating it had to defend itself against ancient viruses, shedding light on the possible origins of viruses themselves. This discovery also fuels the debate on whether life could have independently arisen on other planets in our solar system, like Mars and Venus, or if panspermia played a role in spreading life across the cosmos. Join us as we explore the implications of LUCA's existence, the rapid rise of life on Earth, and what this means for the possibility of life beyond our planet. Could there still be remnants of this ancient life on Mars or Venus? Or does Earth's unique environment make it the sole cradle of life in our solar system? Let's dive into these fascinating questions and more! REFERENCES Moody, E.R.R., Álvarez-Carretero, S., Mahendrarajah, T.A. et al. "The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system." Nature Ecology & Evolution (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02... CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:42 Basics of LUCA reconstruction 2:23 The apparent age of LUCA 4:19 LUCA's features & environment 7:22 Immune Defence System 9:10 Astrobiological Prospects 10:40 Final thoughts CREDITS Molecular Landscapes by David S. Goodsell "Abiogenesis" 2018 https://pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/goods... ESO/M. Kornmesser Mars with Oceans https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso... Artist’s impression of Mars four billion years ago https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso... https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/... https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...