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Evolution of cells refers to the evolutionary origin and subsequent evolutionary development of cells. Cells first emerged at least 3.8 billion years ago [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] approximately 750 million years after Earth was formed.
The cell had a lipid bilayer; it possessed the genetic code and ribosomes which translated from DNA or RNA to proteins. The LUCA probably existed at latest 3.6 billion years ago, and possibly as early as 4.3 billion years ago [2] or earlier. The nature of this point or stage of divergence remains a topic of research.
Their evolution is cited as an example of both natural and sexual selection. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] A 2008 study suggests that sympatric speciation has occurred in Tennessee cave salamanders . [ 42 ] Sympatric speciation driven by ecological factors may also account for the extraordinary diversity of crustaceans living in the depths of Siberia's Lake ...
Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonly referred to as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all life on Earth.
The influence of two closely associated species is known as coevolution. [10] When two or more species evolve in company with each other, one species adapts to changes in other species. This type of evolution often happens in species that have symbiotic relationships. For example, predator-prey coevolution, this is the most common type of co ...
[15] [16] [17] It is the classic example of megaevolution. "The fossil record documents two mutually exclusive macroevolutionary modes separated by the transitional Ediacaran period". [18] Before about 580 mya it seems that most organisms were simple. They were made of individual cells occasionally organized into colonies.
Molecular evolution describes how inherited DNA and/or RNA change over evolutionary time, and the consequences of this for proteins and other components of cells and organisms. Molecular evolution is the basis of phylogenetic approaches to describing the tree of life. Molecular evolution overlaps with population genetics, especially on shorter ...
Therefore, the evolution of the major transitions can also be seen as the framework for studying the evolution of the levels of complexity in biology. [ 9 ] Their work has generated substantial interest and further research into major transitions, [ 10 ] including a devoted issue of papers to the subject in 2016 in the journal Philosophical ...