Microbiologists at the Uppsala University in Sweden have found deep sea microbes that could be a missing link in the answer to how simple cells evolved into complex cells to form higher animals from microbes. The microbes will hopefully help scientists learn how simple cells made travel from its original form to forming higher kinds of life like plants and animals, and eventually people.
The deep sea microbes are named Lokiarchaeota or “Loki” for short and originated deep down in the ocean in hydrothermal vents. That’s how these deep sea microbes got their name, as the word Lokiarchaeota comes the term Loki’s Castle. Loki’s Castle is an area of hydrothermal vents located in the Northern Atlantic. The vents are where the deep-sea microbes were discovered during a scientific deep-sea adventure.
Loki’s cells are a type that appears to be in-between simple one-celled creatures like microbes and more complex cells called eukaryotes. In addition, some of the deep sea microbes Loki cells share genes with the eukaryotes, which told the scientists that cells start to turn more complex during an early stage in the eukaryotes’ evolutionary process.
Deep Sea Microbes Originate Far Below Ocean
Loki’s Castle, where the deep sea microbes were found are at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is located in-between Greenland and Norway more than seven thousand feet below the surface. These hydrothermal vents occur in areas involved with underwater volcanic activity, but for some reason the place the deep sea microbes were found has a lower than expected temperature, according to one of its discoverers, Steffen Jorgensen from the University of Bergen in Norway. He and his fellow scientists are publishing the results of this study in the scientific journal, Nature. They believe that the study of these deep sea microbes will help scientists to discover more information that could eventually cause necessary revisions in future biology texts, which is a great adventure for future biologists to look forward to.
“Loki” Contradicts Known Biologic Facts
Nowadays, scientists accept that there are two forms of life. There are single celled creatures such as a prokaryote, a single celled organism that has no nucleus, or there are more complex celled creatures that come from eukaryotes, with genetic material or DNA is inside of a nucleus. However, the Loki deep sea microbes appear to contradict this theory as this study, according to the scientists, shows that Loki microbes may be an ancestor of mitochondria cells, as it has a dynamic protein cytoskeleton and can engulf and eat other types of cells. This shows that there is a link between the two types of life forms, and thus the way science believes creatures evolved from single to multi-celled animals.
