• Scientists uncover oxygen-loving ancestor of all complex life Ancient microbes that learned to use oxygen may have sparked the rise of complex life. • Scientists widely agree that complex life emerged after two very different microbes formed a close partnership. • That merger eventually gave rise to plants, animals, and fungi, collectively known as eukaryotes. • Yet one key question has lingered for years. • How did these two organisms meet if one required oxygen to survive while the other was believed to thrive only in oxygen-free environments? • Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin now report evidence that may resolve that puzzle.
Article Summaries:
- Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have found evidence that some Asgard archaea-microbes closely related to the ancestors of eukaryotes-can tolerate or even use oxygen. Published in Nature, the study shows that these oxygen‑tolerant Asgards live in shallow, oxygenated sediments and possess metabolic pathways that rely on oxygen. This discovery supports the long‑standing theory that complex life arose when an Asgard archaeon entered a symbiotic relationship with an alphaproteobacterium, eventually giving rise to mitochondria. The findings help explain how the two partners could meet in an environment that had recently become oxygen‑rich during the Great Oxidation Event.
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