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From the age of prokaryotes to the emergence of eukaryotes

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The Science of Astrobiology

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 20))

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Abstract

Our subsequent discussion is based on the idea that evolution has taken place on Earth. Darwin’s major thesis was that evolutionary change is due to the production of variation in a population and the survival and reproductive success of some of these variants. In this chapter we shall concentrate on the first stages of the story of life on Earth guided by Darwin’s ideas. We pick up the story once the earliest and simplest living cell has already formed. As we saw in Chapter 4, it is sometimes called the progenote or, alternatively, the “cenancestor”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, 586, 34014, Trieste, Italy

    Julian Chela-Flores

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  1. Julian Chela-Flores
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Correspondence to Julian Chela-Flores .

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Chela-Flores, J. (2011). From the age of prokaryotes to the emergence of eukaryotes. In: The Science of Astrobiology. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1627-8_5

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