Recent research published in Scientific Reports sheds light on the primitive environment that may have facilitated the emergence and evolution of life on Earth. The study, titled ‘Comparative analysis of reconstructed ancestral proteins with their extant counterparts suggests primitive life had an alkaline habitat,’ delves into the pH-dependent thermal stabilities of reconstructed ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinases and ribosomal protein uS8s, shedding new light on the conditions of early life.

The research, conducted by Takayuki Fujikawa, Takahiro Sasamoto, Fangzheng Zhao, Akihiko Yamagishi, and Satoshi Akanuma, aimed to understand the origin and early evolution of life by assessing the characteristics of the primordial environment. The team’s findings suggest that the common ancestors of bacterial and archaeal species thrived in an alkaline environment, indicating a crucial aspect of the primordial conditions that facilitated the emergence and evolution of life.

Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) played a pivotal role in the study, allowing the researchers to deduce plausible protein sequences that may have been present in extinct organisms. The absence of fossil records of ancient organisms that lived more than 3,500 million years ago has posed a challenge, making ASR a valuable method to gain insights into the characteristics of early life on Earth.

The study’s implications extend beyond the realm of scientific curiosity, as the reconstruction method employed in this research holds potential for generating alkali-tolerant proteins that can be utilized in various biotechnological and environmental applications. This breakthrough opens new possibilities for leveraging ancestral sequence reconstruction to address contemporary challenges and develop innovative solutions.