Genomic evidence suggests early life relied on ammonium and other N molecules before biological nitrogen fixation evolved.

npj Complexity - Priority effects inhibit the repeated evolution of phototrophy

It is generally accepted that there is a vast, well-populated biosphere in the subsurface,

The beauty of the DNA code is that organisms interpret it unambiguously.

How did life begin, and why does it matter? Scientists are tracing early microbial life—from LUCA to multicellularity—to unlock insights for biotech, climate science and even space exploration.

Phylogenetic reconstructions with conserved protein markers from the 11 known DPANN phyla reveal their monophyletic placement within the Euryarchaeota.

‘April showers’ were few and far between in 2025.

Forschende unter Beteiligung der RPTU entschlüsseln Rätsel einer längst vergangenen Zeit: Im Rahmen von aktuellen Studien untersuchen sie, wie sich Leben auf der frühen Erde entwickelt haben könnte. D...

A PhD studentship funded by an EPSRC DTP (3.5 years) is currently available in the Molecular Evolution Lab. The project objective is to apply and develop synthetic biology approaches, leveraging direc...

Cyanobacteria use both chlorophylls and phycobilins to absorb light energy, and authors here use cultivation experiments, numerical simulations and protein phylogenetics to argue that cyanobacteria ev...

The great oxidation event, which released oxygen into Earth’s atmosphere, was catalyzed by cyanobacteria and ultimately led to the evolution of aerobic metabolism.