How and where did the first forms of life arise? These are the main questions driving research at the Institute of Molecular ...

A new study suggests bacteria and archaea independently evolved into free-living cells from a shared ancestor, challenging a ...

Life on Earth is thought to have emerged from the primordial ooze some four billion years ago. Now a provocative new study ...

An international research team has uncovered how LUCA, the last ancestor of all life on Earth, split into the first two ...

The earliest free-living bacteria and archaea may have emerged separately, even though both inherited the same genetic code from a shared ancestor. Metals inside hydrothermal vents may have powered ...

Genes are known to move within an organism, but between organisms—that’s another story.

The work challenges the assumption that all life descended from one free-living cell. Instead, it suggests that two microbial ...

Archaea have emerged as crucial players in molecular biology, evolution, and ecology. Recent breakthroughs, notably the ...

Scientists have found further evidence to support the idea that the primary two domains of life, the Archaea and Bacteria, are separated by a long phylogenetic tree branch and therefore distantly ...

The structure of how DNA is stored in archaea makes a significant difference to how quickly it evolves, according to a new study by Indiana University researchers. The study, led by molecular ...

In the late 1970’s, our understanding of the tree of life was fundamentally changed with the discovery and recognition of Archaea, a third domain of life along with Bacteria and Eukarya. While ...