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For Three Billion Years, Microorganisms Were the Only Inhabitants of the Earth

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Environmental Microbiology: Fundamentals and Applications

Abstract

Microorganisms were the sole inhabitants of our planet for almost 3 billion years. They have survived the intense geological upheavals that have marked the history of the Earth. They profoundly shaped their environment, thus participating in a true co-evolution between the biosphere and the geosphere. Through their activity, they also created favourable conditions for the emergence of multicellular aerobic organisms (particularly with an intense production of oxygen released into the atmosphere).

Among past microorganisms, LUCA occupied a central position in the evolutionary history of life. The possible origin and the large uncertainties about the nature of LUCA are discussed: where and when did LUCA live? Was it a hyperthermophilic, thermophilic or mesophilic organism? How did its genome look like?

Scenarios and hypotheses regarding the emergence and the relationships of the three domains of life – Archaea, Bacteria and Eucarya – as well as the transition from a prokaryotic to eukaryotic cell organisation are discussed in the light of the most recent data. Possible major steps in the evolution of microorganisms are deduced from genomic investigations and from the geological record (fossils, isotopic ratios, biomarkers). Although the early steps of microbial metabolic evolution are still hotly debated, it is possible to speculate on the occurrence of the first living entities, from the primordial metabolisms to the advent of photosynthesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Méditerranéen d’Océanologie (MIO), UM 110, CNRS 7294 IRD 235, Université de Toulon, Aix-Marseille Université, Campus de Luminy, 13288, Marseille Cedex 9, France

    Jean-Claude Bertrand

  2. Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, UMR CNRS 5558, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Céline Brochier-Armanet & Manolo Gouy

  3. Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, 45071, ORLEANS Cedex 2, France

    Frances Westall

Authors
  1. Jean-Claude Bertrand
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  2. Céline Brochier-Armanet
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  3. Manolo Gouy
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  4. Frances Westall
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Toulon, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen d’Océanologie (MIO), UM 110, CNRS 7294 IRD 235, Cedex 9, Marseille, France

    Jean-Claude Bertrand

  2. Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-chimie pour l’Environnement et les Matériaux (IPREM), UM 110, CNRS 5254, Pau Cedex, France

    Pierre Caumette

  3. Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls, Laboratoire de Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Microbiennes (LBBM), Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ, Paris 06, USR CNRS 3579, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France

    Philippe Lebaron

  4. Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), UMR-CNRS-IRD 7263, Aix-Marseille Université, Cedex 20, Marseille, France

    Robert Matheron

  5. Microbial Ecology Center, UMR CNRS 5557/USC INRA 1364, Villeubanne, France

    Philippe Normand

  6. Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnement (LMGE), UMR CNRS 6023, Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont Université, Aubère Cedex, France

    Télesphore Sime-Ngando

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Bertrand, JC., Brochier-Armanet, C., Gouy, M., Westall, F. (2015). For Three Billion Years, Microorganisms Were the Only Inhabitants of the Earth. In: Bertrand, JC., Caumette, P., Lebaron, P., Matheron, R., Normand, P., Sime-Ngando, T. (eds) Environmental Microbiology: Fundamentals and Applications. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9118-2_4

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