The origin of life on planet Earth has always aroused curiosity among humans, but especially in the scientific world. However, a group of Japanese researchers figured it out an organism that challenges the boundaries between the living and the dead.
This is a discovery by a team from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, where they analyzed genetic material from marine plankton and found DNA sequences did not match any known category. According to the researchers’ findings, the pattern turned out to be quite unusual, as they discovered the presence of a completely new archaea and decided to give it a name Sukunaarchaeum.
According to the group of Japanese scientists, the microorganism has properties They do not appear in traditional biology. In this sense, experts discovered him as a small, enigmatic and minimalist creature. “It appears to have undergone some sort of extreme decline over the course of its evolution,” the researchers noted.
Furthermore, they mentioned that there are some in the Sukunaarchaeum 238,000 base pairsi.e. less than half of the smallest genome known to date. In this sense, the scientists explained it the microorganism eliminated everything that he did not consider vital to his existence. And as if that wasn’t enough, it has the ability to “read” and “copy” genetic information.
Although this microscopic creature can replicate, transcribe and translate genetic data, depends on other beings to obtain basic resources that brings it closer to viruses.
However, too produces messenger RNA and ribosomesa function usually typical of cellular organisms. This hybrid position led scientists to believe it was a viral form that was never documented.
Although studies on this very special creature are still ongoing, the research team believes that its discovery could shed light Details about the development and origin of life.
On the other hand, they emphasized that this microorganism also caused Science is rethinking everything it knows of the smallest units and the type of classifications that biology has.
By Stephany Guzmán Ayala
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