Early Microbes: Viruses or Bacteria?

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earliest biological entities

Live Science

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Which came first: viruses or bacteria?

Summary

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82% Informative

Scientists estimate the earliest biological entities began to appear on Earth more than 4 billion years ago.

Until very recently, most scientists thought viruses emerged from the primordial soup before bacteria.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms that can reproduce and exist independently.

The oldest fossils of bacteria date back around 3.5 billion years.

Genetic data suggests the first cells are even older, dating back at least 4.2 billion years . This doesn't help settle whether viruses or bacteria emerged first .

Victoria Atkinson is a freelance science journalist specializing in chemistry and its interface with the natural and human-made worlds.

She has a DPhil in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford .

Atkinson has expanded her focus to explore topics from across the sciences and has worked with Chemistry Review , Neon Squid Publishing and the Open University .

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