🧬 Scientists Replicate 2.9 Billion Years of Evolution in Just 600 Days! 🔬

 Hello friends,  we all know, it took 2.9 billion years for multicellular

organisms to evolve from unicellular organisms. But, what if I tell you that the scientists of

Michigan State University have replicated the exact same evolution in just 600 days with an

experiment. This is the most groundbreaking experiment ever performed on Earth, according

to me.

So finally, with this experiment, we will get the answer to the biggest mystery of evolution. A

mystery that scientists have been searching for since 1988. How did we become a multicellular

organism like humans from a unicellular organism like amoeba? Its one word answer is

Oxygen.

Now, it is very interesting to listen to it carefully. So actually, in 1988, the biologist of Michigan

State University, Richard Lenski, decided to study the evolution of multicellular organisms from

unicellular organisms in detail. Now, for this study, he chose E. coli bacteria, because they

double their population in 4 minutes, that is, they multiply quickly.

In the beginning of this study, he grew 12 different E. coli populations by giving the same

conditions, same food. As soon as he saw it, 74,500 generations of those bacteria, that is,

generations that are equal to 1.5 million years of human evolution, evolved. While studying all

these generations, Lenski got some key observations.

He saw that every next generation is evolving from its previous generation and growing 70%

faster. And half of them had even achieved the ability to repair DNA. In addition, by living in

controlled conditions, 20,000 generations later, the bacteria had eliminated their unused

metabolic functions.

That is, the enzymes needed to feed them, to process them, to make them useful, were just

starting to be produced. That is, all in all, it was just like every next generation of monkeys

brought in necessary changes that were necessary for their survival. And the things that were

not necessary, were eliminated.

And by following this same process, the monkeys evolved into humans. After this experiment,

the entire life science community got a new direction. Because now we can replicate the

different phases of total living history through many such experiments in the lab.

But there was only one problem in this. Bacteria was used in this experiment. And bacteria, as

you know, never takes a multicellular form.

That is, through bacteria, we never understand the phase of living history in which unicellular

organisms evolved into multicellular organisms for the first time. And that is why, recently, a

new experiment took place in which evolutionary biologist William Ratcliffe chose a unicellular

organism whose 20% genes are found in humans. So, continuing Lenski's objective, in 2010,

William Ratcliffe of Minnesota University repeated the same evolutionary experiment with

unicellular yeast instead of bacteria.

Because yeast is the only organism that exists in the form of a single cell. And at the same time,

like bacteria, it also doubles its population in less than 90 minutes. That is, best of both worlds

and a perfect candidate for our experiment.

So what happened was that he took a widely used species of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae,

and put it in a nutrient-rich medium filled with peptone dextrose and grew it at an optimal

temperature of 30 degrees. In this, dextrose is basically glucose and therefore provides energy.

And by providing peptone amino acids, it helps in making proteins.

And once this was done, he mixed that mixture and let it settle. So that if a yeast cell takes a

multicellular form, it settles below its weight. And then he observed this mixture for 60 days

and there was it.

The answer to our lifelong mystery. After all, what was detected that this experiment was

considered a success and what were its conclusions? And finally, how did a basic element like

oxygen force unicellular genes to become multicellular? So, in this yeast experiment,

researchers selected yeast cells on the basis of gravity. Because as soon as test tubes were

shaken for mixing, as I said earlier, in comparison to single cells, cell clusters settle down faster

due to their weight.

And then they left these cell clusters to grow in another container. When that container was

reexamined after 60 days, all the researchers were shocked. Because the yeast in it had created

a structure that looked like a snowflake.

Which had dozens of cells. Now, let me tell you, fungi like yeast make big structures like this.

But it is made by coming with different organisms.

That is, simply speaking, these structures are not genetically identical. But the specialty of this

snowflake structure was that all the yeasts present in it were genetically identical. That means,

unicellular yeast had made a multicellular organism together.

But sadly, after a point at around 100 cells, the growth of this yeast suddenly stopped. Seeing

this, the researchers were also quite confused. Then to tackle this problem, one of the

researchers thought of recreating the conditions of primitive earth.

Because ultimately, from today, 600 million years ago, life on primitive earth had moved from

unicellularity to multicellularity. And at that time, in today's comparison, the amount of oxygen

on earth was quite low. That means, in this condition, unicellular organisms must have adapted

themselves.

Because of which, some of them must have become multicellular. Due to this thought process,

a researcher of that team, Ozan Buzdag, thought of keeping that multicellular yeast in an

oxygen-less environment. And surprisingly, as soon as he kept it in this environment, where

earlier he was making multicellular structures of only 100 cells, he eventually grew up and

started making structures of 4,50,000 cells.

And in the next 600 days, those yeast cells had grown so big that they could literally be seen

without a microscope. So what exactly happened in an oxygen-less environment that those

yeasts grew so rapidly? To answer this, the scientists carefully observed the multicellular

structure of those yeasts again. And what they saw was very weird.

They observed that because the yeast cells were making branches on top of each other, their

thin cell walls were concentrating on the joining points of the cells and were becoming thicker

and tougher. So much so that where the cell wall of a normal yeast is 100 times weaker than

that of a gel, the cell wall of these multicellular yeasts was as hard as wood. Because usually in

an oxygen-less environment, yeasts use anaerobic respiration.

In this, they respire with the help of the carbohydrates present in the environment and release

carbon dioxide and alcohol. Now, because there are very harsh conditions for life in this

experiment, that's why the yeasts present in it make a big structure for their protection, which

obviously increases their overall strength. With this, the researchers concluded that to escape

the harsh conditions of 600 million years ago, organisms must have started evolving towards

multicellularity.

So basically, friends, now we know for sure how the multicellular evolution took place. Now

there was only one question left. Was this yeast the first organism to evolve into a multicellular

organism 600 million years ago? Well, for this, they started studying many such unicellular

structures that could potentially take the form of a multicellular organism.

For this, they had to search a lot. And finally, they found such a structure. But at a very unusual

place.

Human mouth! Actually, this is when in the year 1970, famous scientist and doctor Niels Hoebe

studied the causes of cystic fibrosis, in which there are blockages due to the formation of a

thick mucous layer on the wall of the windpipe, in which there are blockages due to the

formation of a thick mucous layer on the wall of the windpipe. For this, he examined the saliva

samples of some patients suffering from this disease in a microscope. And then he saw

something that shocked him.

He saw that in the sample taken from the human mouth, the bacteria were following a strange

pattern. He was multiplying and creating a colony. Which is actually nothing new.

Because almost all bacteria do this. The only problem was that the bacterial colony had created

a sticky, slimy layer all around it. Because of which the windpipe was being blocked.

Now, when the scientists put acetic acid on them to kill them, then they found out that the slimy

coating was actually protecting them. And only those bacteria were dying from the acid, who

were wandering alone outside that layer. This shield was then called biofilm by the scientists.

Now, when further research was done on this, it was found that 70% of bacterial diseases in

humans are caused by biofilms. And every year, 7.7 million people die from this. This is because

the protection layer of biofilms protects the bacteria from the pH and pressure levels of its host

body.

It also gives immunity from the antibodies produced in the body. This increases their survival

rate, and they are able to survive and replicate in any environment. And that's why scientists

believe that these biofilms are a connecting link between unicellular and multicellular

organisms.

That is, now we had two answers. One, that eukaryotic unicellular organisms evolved into

multicellular organisms. And second, the first stage of this transition was the formation of

bacterial biofilms.

This means that we got the answers to both those questions, which we wanted to know in the

beginning. But in turn, a third question arose from this. How did this bacteria evolve from

inorganic molecules? Because so far we have talked about how unicellular became

multicellular.

But how did unicellular form in the first place? I mean, how did the first cell form? Well, in

response to this, the experiment conducted by the scientists, you won't believe it again, but

they made a primitive cell from inorganic molecules. To find out how life on Earth evolved from

inorganic materials, the scientists of Glasgow University, Leroy Cronin and his team made fully

functional cells from inorganic elements. To make them, they took two water-based solutions.

First, which was made from oxygen ions and carbon's positively charged aromatic ring

compounds. And second, which was made from sodium ions and polyoxometallate crystals,

that is, heavy metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, and negatively charged oxides. Then they

mixed these two solutions with each other and saw that the aromatic rings and POM crystals

combined to form a thin membrane.

And they saw that with different compounds, they could reduce or increase the thickness of this

membrane. After this, they also saw that ions were flowing from this artificial membrane, just

like nutrients flow in a real cell, or just like current flows in a wire. So basically, this flow of ions,

you can philosophically call it a soul.

Soul. Because ultimately, it blew life into the structure and system of the first inorganic

chemical, which became the first single cell. Now, this inorganic cell, compared to a normal cell,

the scientists named this first manufactured cell, Inorganic Chemical Cell, I-Cell.

Now, this inorganic cell, compared to a normal cell, seems very primitive to you. But according

to endosymbiotic theory, in the beginning, such inorganic chemical cells first formed

prokaryotic cells. And then these prokaryotic cells were converted into cell organelles like

mitochondria and chloroplasts.

And then they came together, and settled inside the cell wall, and eventually became part of

eukaryotic cells. So, eukaryotic cell, meaning a cell that has a cell wall, you can call it a closed

system. Because it is enclosed inside the cell wall.

Now, it can have reactions all over the world, and the result can be evolution. Now, friends, I

don't know about you, but I am just extremely happy, and also fascinated, because we

the practical proof of Darwin's theory. And if we continue this experiment, then it is possible

that this I-Cell cell can be further evolved into fully functional organic cells, given enough time.

All in all, from these four experiments, scientists have a rough idea that how to make a

unicellular organism from inorganics, and then how to evolve it into a multicellular organism

from a unicellular organism. Amazing, right? In a way, we have decoded how this life was born

on Earth, how it evolved, and we have proved it in the experiment. Because till now, evolution

theory was just a theory.

It was a little difficult to prove it, because the timeline used to be very long. You know, you

cannot show in real time that a monkey is evolving into a human being. But this experiment has

proved this theory on one level.

But with this evolution, many times, highly potent diseases causing bacteria and viruses are

also formed. In fact, recently, we have found a fungus which is directly attacking our brains.

And it's very dangerous.