First True Bacteria
~3.7 Billion years ago (shortly after LUCA)
Peptidoglycan cell wall and Ester-linked lipids
LUCA likely had a very simple, leaky membrane or a rudimentary protein shell. Bacteria developed a cell wall made of peptidoglycan (a mesh of sugars and amino acids). This acts like a reinforced chain-link fence, allowing bacteria to survive in different water pressures without exploding.
The peptidoglycan wall of sugars and amino acids is exactly what penicillin attacks! If a cell has this specific wall, it’s a bacterium.
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Shortly after LUCA, about 3.7 billion years ago, the first bacteria emerged.
Subject: Evolution.
About 3.7 billion years ago, but for sure after LUCA, the first bacteria emerged. While LUCA had the basic machinery to be alive, “True Bacteria” evolved specific structural and chemical “trademarks” that set them apart from LUCA and their cousins, the Archaea: peptidoglycan cell wall and ester-linked lipids.
was first published on TST 7 months ago.
