Earth wasn’t always as it is today and before the Great Oxidation Event, or GOE, our planet’s atmosphere was very different. Now experts say that microbial life in Yellowstone’s Lower Geyser Basin may provide clues as to how early life adapted to oxygen.
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00:00Earth wasn't always as it is today, and before the Great Oxidation Event, or GOE,
00:08our planet's atmosphere was very different.
00:10Still, at some point, cyanobacteria evolved to release O2 as a metabolic byproduct, changing
00:15the evolution of life forever.
00:17Now experts say that microbial life in Yellowstone's Lower Geyser Basin may provide clues as to
00:22how early life adapted to oxygen.
00:25They found that microbes living in the octopus and conch springs are genetically similar
00:29to their ancient counterparts, and they form gelatinous streamer structures and thrive
00:33in superheated water upwards of 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:37The wild thing is that each of these springs host wildly different environments.
00:41Octopus spring has a high oxygen, low sulfide content, while conch spring is reversed, with
00:46high sulfide, low oxygen.
00:48This provides clues as to how organisms adapted to low oxygen environments as Earth's atmosphere
00:52was changing, with early microbes likely having developed strategies to handle traces of oxygen
00:57before it became abundant.