Nov 3 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced that biologists working for it and the Natl. Science Foundation had identified a "new" form of life that might date back to earth's first billion yr: a methane-producing organism representing what might be the oldest form of life as well as a line of evolution totally separate from the two traditionally recognized lines of bacteria, and animals and plants. A research team headed by Dr. Carl Woese of the Univ. of Ill.-Urbana, described as a world expert on the genetic code, said the organisms were a distinct class no more related to typical bacteria than to higher forms. Biologists working with a group of methane-producing organisms had assumed they were ordinary bacteria; however, analysis of ribosomal RNA had shown the genealogy of the new form to be distinct from those of both bacteria and the animals or plants. Dr. Woese said the study might shed light on a missing stage of evolution, the chemical stage that immediately preceded identifiable life on earth. (NASA Release 77-229)
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