Study Suggests Bacteria and Archaea Took Two Paths to Life

Billions of years ago, scientists think tiny living things may have started near hot vents deep under the ocean.

A group of scientists in Germany studied how the very first cells began to make the parts they need to live.

They found that early life probably used metals from the water to help run important chemical reactions.

Later, living cells learned to use special helpers called enzymes.

The scientists discovered that two big groups of tiny life, bacteria and archaea, may have each become free-living on their own.

The two groups sometimes invented different versions of the same enzyme, even though they came from the same starting code.

This means life may have begun as one shared code but then took two separate paths to independence.

The study also suggests some of the earliest energy reactions used a chemical called phosphite with the help of the metal palladium.

This research gives scientists new clues about how life began on Earth.