What are the ancestors of all living things?

Since ancient times, there is only one form of life on earth - that is the most common common ancestor of all cells, or LUCA. At a certain point, they divide into bacteria and bacteria, two of the three main components of life on our planet.

At least, that's what we thought happened. That unicellular ancestor could exist in some estuaries, about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, so it's not easy to know what it looks like, and why it happens as so.

To get some answers, a group of Dutch researchers who have lab innovations and the shape of life they have created are causing doubts about what we think they are. we understand LUC A.

The ancestors of all organisms lost its integrity because its lipid structure was chaotic.

The team has redesigned a bacterium that has the same characteristics of both bacteria and bacteria, and therefore may have some of the same characteristics as LUCA.

The problem is, bacteria and bacteria have strong cell membranes, forming fat molecules called phosphorus lipids . But one of the main differences between the two groups is their lipid molecular structure.

The co-authors of the study, University of Groningen molecular biologist Arnold Driessen, said: 'The lipid membranes of both regions are different, the phosphorus lipid structure is the mirror image of each other.'

Because of the big difference in how the two types of membranes work together, a leading hypothesis about LUCA is that the ancestors of all organisms lost their integrity because of the structure. Its lipid is chaotic.

Since then, molecules will sort themselves into two types of stable cell membranes, and the voila and bacteriophage bacteria are born.

However, the team's results have created a major flaw in this story.

Since we do not have an original preserved LUCA, researchers must actually build a cell membrane that is mixed, containing lipids from both bacteria and bacteria.

To do this, they used gene editing technology to convert enzymes that produce lipids from bacteria and bacteria into a common Escherichia coli bacterium. Their combination ends with 30 percent phosphorus lipids that are replaced with substances that you would normally find only in the bacteriophage cell walls.

And contrary to the team's expectations, the E. coli cell membrane does not break off in the seams, suggesting that a battle between lipid molecules may not be the cause of the separation of all LUCAs for billions of years. before.

Biologist Driessen said: 'This result does not support the hypothesis that a composite membrane is inherently unstable and thus has a lipid distribution'.

The new type of E. coli did very well in petri habitats.

In fact, the new E. coli has done very well in petri habitats. It has a longer shape than its similar cells, and high-stored lipid layers make it develop very little surface impact.

Driessen added: 'The strength of these mixed cells surprised us'.

'Ultimately, what we designed created a new form of life.'

So evolutionary biologists may need to go back to the drawing board on LUCA - but it is certainly a mysterious mystery to be solved. Anyway, even Charles Darwin predicted the existence of this cell ancestor, back in 1859:

'It is possible that all organic organisms that once lived on this earth came from a primitive form, where living things were first breathed.'