Our last #commonancestor lived 4.2 billion years ago—perhaps hundreds of millions of years earlier than thought
#Genomes of diverse #microbes point to early #evolution of a rudimentary #immunesystem
The last ancestor shared by all living organisms was a microbe that lived 4.2 billion years ago, had a fairly large #genome encoding some 2600 proteins, enjoyed a diet of hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, and harbored a rudimentary immune system for fighting off viral invaders.
https://www.science.org/content/article/our-last-common-ancestor-lived-4-2-billion-years-ago-perhaps-hundreds-millions-years