![]() ![]() Thermotogota bacteria are typically thermophilic or hyperthermophilic, gram-negative staining, anaerobic organisms that can live near hydrothermal vents where temperatures can range between 55-95 ☌. This organism eats sulfur and hydrogen and fixes its own carbon from carbon dioxide. This has become an issue regarding antibiotic resistant bacteria. Furthermore, bacteria can reproduce in as little as 20 minutes, which allows for fast adaptation, meaning new strains of bacteria can evolve quickly. This allows for new genetic and physical adaptations to develop, allowing bacteria to adapt to their environment and evolve. This makes bacteria susceptible to environmental pressures, an issue that is overcome by sharing genetic information via transduction, transformation, or conjugation. However, since bacteria reproduce via binary fission-a form of asexual reproduction-the daughter cell and parent cell are genetically identical. This is through the process of natural selection, whereby beneficial adaptations are passed onto future generations until the trait becomes common within the entire population. Process of Bacterial Evolution īacteria evolve in a similar process to other organisms. Bacteria reproduce through binary fission, though they can still share genetic information between individuals either by transduction, transformation, or conjugation. īacteria can metabolise in different ways, most commonly by heterotrophic or autotrophic (either photosynthetic or chemosynthetic) processes. Some unique bacterial features include the cell wall (also found in plants and fungi), flagella (not common for all bacteria), and the nucleoid. They share characteristics with eukaryotic cells including the cytoplasm, cell membrane, and ribosomes. They were one of the first living cells to evolve and have spread to inhabit a variety of different habitats including hydrothermal vents, glacial rocks, and other organisms. Nevertheless, more recent technological developments means more evidence has been discovered.īacteria are prokaryotic microorganisms that can either have a bacilli, spirilli, or cocci shape and measure between 0.5-20 micrometers. Even though microfossils of ancient bacteria have been discovered, some scientists argue that the lack of identifiable morphology in these fossils means they can not be utilised to draw conclusions on an accurate evolutionary timeline of bacteria. However, there are still many conflicting theories surrounding the origins of bacteria. This phylum evolved approximately 1.5 billion years ago during the Paleoproterozoic era. ![]() Today this phylum includes many nitrogen fixing bacteria, pathogens, and free-living microorganisms. The rise in atmospheric oxygen led to the evolution of Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). However, some scientists argue they could have lived as early as 2.7 billion years ago, as this was roughly before the time of the Great Oxygenation Event, meaning oxygen levels had time to increase in the atmosphere before it altered the ecosystem during this event. Therefore, this phylum was thought to have been predominant roughly 2.3 billion years ago. This indicates that oceanic, photosynthetic cyanobacteria evolved during this period because they were the first microbes to produce oxygen as a byproduct of their metabolic process. This suggests that an organism in of the phylum Thermotogota (formerly Thermotogae) was the most recent common ancestor of modern bacteria.įurther chemical and isotopic analysis of ancient rock reveals that by the Siderian period, roughly 2.45 billion years ago, oxygen had appeared. Furthermore, evidence of permineralized microfossils of early prokaryotes was also discovered in the Australian Apex Chert rocks, dating back roughly 3.5 billion years ago during the time period known as the Precambrian time. This was discovered through gene sequencing of bacterial nucleoids to reconstruct their phylogeny. The evolution of bacteria has progressed over billions of years since the Precambrian time with their first major divergence from the archaeal/ eukaryotic lineage roughly 3.2-3.5 billion years ago. ![]()
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