California: Scientists have discovered a mysterious new type of multicellular organism that offers new insights into the evolution of microscopic life forms and potentially the earliest animals on Earth.
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have uncovered secrets from the depths of Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, which may provide further information about the early days of animals 650 million years ago.
The research, published in the journal “mBio”, focuses on the discovery of a new type of choanoflagellate, which hosts a microbiome.
It is remarkable that any organism exists in this lake despite the presence of arsenic and cyanide in the water.
The newly discovered organism is a choanoflagellate.
What exactly is a choanoflagellate? In simple terms, it is a single-celled life form that functions similarly to animal embryos by dividing into multicellular colonies.
Although it is not an animal, the choanoflagellate is the closest thing to an animal and is studied as a model representing early life forms from millions of years ago.
Researchers believe this new discovery will provide insights into the relationship between animals and bacteria, leading to a better understanding of how the first human microbiomes were formed.