Resurrected protein's clue to origins of life (BBC)
By Simon Redfern
Reporter, BBC News
New reconstructions of ancient proteins have provided clues to the habitat and origins of life on Earth.
The resurrected protein is thought to have existed almost four billion years ago in single-celled organisms linked to the earliest ancestor of all life.
The protein survives in the extreme environments of high acidity and temperature expected on early Earth and, intriguingly, also Mars.
Spanish and US scientists reported their study in the journal Structure.
Gene sequences in a protein called thioredoxin, taken from a wide variety of modern organisms, were analysed and placed in an evolutionary context - locating them on a molecular-scale tree of life - to chart their progression from their primordial forms.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23591470
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If they can place this molecule on all the branches of evolution.. then we may have found the seed of life. The alpha and the omega.
