--- title: "The Double Birth of Life: German Scientists Rewrite the History of the Biosphere's Origin" description: "🧬 **Life on Earth may have arisen twice!** German scientists have published a revolutionary study in the journal Science Advances. It turns out that bacteria and archaea evolved independently, replacing metal catalysts with enzymes. This casts doubt on the theory of a single LUCA ancestor and requires rewriting the \"tree of life.\" 🔬🌍" date: 2026-08-15T05:10:03.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/double-birth-of-life-german-hypothesis-en tags: [science, evolution, biology, germany, bacteria, archaea] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # The Double Birth of Life: German Scientists Rewrite the History of the Biosphere's Origin ![Scrabble tiles spelling LIFE on soil near tree roots — metaphor for double birth of life per German scientists](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/15/dvoynoe-rozhdenie-zhizni-germanskaya-gipoteza/dvoynoe-rozhdenie-zhizni-germanskaya-gipoteza-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - Researchers from Heinrich Heine University suggest that life on Earth arose twice independently. - Bacteria and archaea formed different metabolic systems, using different enzymes. - Natural metals, not enzymes, played the role of catalysts in the early stages. - The traditional theory of a single LUCA ancestor requires revision. - The energy source for the first cells may have been linked to phosphite, not ATP. A debate is brewing in the scientific world that could overturn fundamental concepts regarding the origin of life on Earth. A group of researchers from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf (Germany) has published a paper in the prestigious journal *Science Advances* that challenges the dogma of a single universal common ancestor for all living organisms. According to new data, the transition from non-living chemical matter to fully functional living cells may have occurred on our planet twice, independently of each other. ### The End of the LUCA Era: Two Paths to Autonomy For a long time, the scientific community has operated on the concept of LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). It was believed that all existing forms of life today, from bacteria to humans, trace their origins to a single cell that emerged billions of years ago. However, a new analysis of enzymes and basic chemical reactions has revealed significant differences between the two main branches of prokaryotes — bacteria and archaea. Study leader William Martin and his colleagues discovered that the enzymes responsible for catalyzing the same basic metabolic reactions have fundamentally different structures in these two groups. This suggests that bacteria and archaea formed their own autonomous metabolic systems separately from one another. It turns out that LUCA was not a fully fledged living organism in the modern sense, but rather a set of genetic code and primitive mechanisms that subsequently evolved along two different trajectories. ### The Role of Metals and Hydrothermal Vents Scientists hypothesize that the first chemical reactions that became the foundation for life took place in extreme conditions near underwater hydrothermal vents. In the early stages of evolution, the role of catalysts was performed not by protein enzymes, but by natural metals, such as palladium, present in the water. It was these metals that facilitated the conversion of hydrogen, ammonia, and carbon dioxide into organic molecules. A key discovery was the resolution of the long-standing problem of the energy source for primary metabolism. Modern cells use the molecule ATP for this, the synthesis of which itself requires complex enzymatic processes. Experiments showed that in the early stages, this role could have been performed by phosphite — a form of phosphorus naturally found at hydrothermal vents and easily entering reactions without the involvement of enzymes. This allowed primitive systems to function before the emergence of complex protein structures. ### Parallel Evolution: From Chemistry to Biology According to the new hypothesis, bacteria and archaea independently developed their own protein enzymes to replace inorganic metal catalysts and become fully autonomous cells. This phenomenon can be characterized as parallel evolution: humanity observes a single origin of the genetic code, but two separate sources of full-fledged cellular life. If the scientists' conclusions are confirmed by further research, the traditional "tree of life" will have to be radically rewritten. Instead of a single common trunk from which all branches of the biosphere diverge, it may have two separate roots, formed even before the appearance of the first fully functional cells. This opens new horizons for the search for life on other planets, where conditions may facilitate the emergence of biochemistry different from that of Earth. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [Life on Earth arose twice: bacteria and archaea evolved independently](https://hi-tech.mail.ru/news/152732-zhizn-na-zemle-voznikla-dvazhdy-bakterii-i-arhei/) - Источник подтверждает данные о независимом развитии бактерий и архей. - [Life on Earth could have appeared twice: a new hypothesis by German scientists](https://www.tut-news.ru/nauka-i-tehnologii/zhizn-na-zemle-mogla-poyavitsya-dvazhdy-novaya-gipoteza-nemeckih-uchenyh) - Источник подтверждает данные о гипотезе немецких ученых. - [Life arose on Earth only once. But free-living cells could have appeared twice](https://www.securitylab.ru/news/575746.php) - Источник уточняет, что речь идет о появлении свободноживущих клеток. - [According to the results of a radical study, life on Earth arose twice](https://24tv.ua/tech/ru/zhizn-na-zemle-voznikala-dvazhdy-novoe-issledovanie-bakterij-i-arhej_n3118671) - Источник подтверждает радикальность исследования и его выводы. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: What is LUCA? **A:** LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor) is the hypothetical last universal common ancestor of all modern living organisms. ### Q: Why do scientists believe life arose twice? **A:** Because the enzymes of bacteria and archaea that catalyze the same reactions have different structures, indicating independent development. ### Q: What is the role of metals in the origin of life? **A:** In the early stages, metals (such as palladium) performed the role of catalysts for chemical reactions before the appearance of protein enzymes. ### Q: What is phosphite and why is it important? **A:** Phosphite is a form of phosphorus that could have served as an energy source for primary metabolism, replacing the ATP molecule.