#prokaryotes — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬 @[email protected] · 2026-03-26 · 10:04 UTC

How #Microbes Got Their Crawl
#Prokaryotes arose more than four billion years ago. #Eukaryotes emerged much later, somewhere between 2.5 and two billion years ago. How complex eukaryotes evolved from simpler prokaryotes has left scientists scratching their heads for decades.
In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/science/evolution-cells-asgard.html
https://archive.ph/0iskp

#microbes #prokaryotes #eukaryotes

Mikko Tuomi @[email protected] · 2025-12-09 · 09:21 UTC

Complex #life began to develop earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed.

Nee findings indicate that complex organisms evolved long before there were substantial levels of #oxygen in the #atmosphere, something which had previously been considered a prerequisite to the #evolution of complex life.

The #earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, with the first #microbial life forms appearing over 4 billion years ago.

These organisms consisted of two groups – #bacteria and the distinct but related #archaea, collectively known as #prokaryotes.

Prokaryotes were the only form of life on earth for hundreds of millions of years, until more complex eukaryotic cells including organisms such as #algae, #fungi, #plants and #animals evolved.

Previous ideas on how and when early prokaryotes transformed into complex #eukaryotes has largely been in the realm of speculation. Estimates have spanned a billion years, as no intermediate forms exist and definitive fossil evidence has been lacking.

By collecting evidence from multiple #gene families in multiple biological systems and focusing on the features which distinguish eukaryotes from prokaryotes, researchers were able to begin to piece together the developmental pathway for complex life.

They obtained evidence that the transition began almost 2.9 billion years ago – almost a billion years earlier than by some other estimates – suggesting that the nucleus and other internal structures appear to have evolved significantly before #mitochondria.

The process of cumulative complexification seems to have taken place over a much longer time period than previously thought.

#biology
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/december/complex-life-developed-earlier-than-previously-thought-new-study-reveals.html

Paper by Kay et al. (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09808-z

#life #oxygen #atmosphere #evolution #earth #microbial

Miguel Rodriguez-R @[email protected] · 2025-11-24 · 20:47 UTC

We are hiring! If you're interested in exploring the #biogeography of #prokaryotes using #genomics and #metagenomics, are interested in biology and geographic information systems, and are passionate about #OpenScience, this is for you! We have just opened a PhD and a PostDoc position in my lab at Aalborg University!

PhD: https://www.vacancies.aau.dk/phd-positions/show-vacancy/vacancyId/879120

Postdoc: https://www.vacancies.aau.dk/scientific-positions/show-vacancy/vacancyId/879146

Feel free to reach out with questions or apply directly in the links

#biogeography #prokaryotes #genomics #metagenomics #openscience