{"id":660967,"date":"2025-04-05T20:30:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T17:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth\/"},"modified":"2025-04-05T20:30:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T17:30:26","slug":"how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"How we used AI to trace the evolution of bacteria on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407ae6376b5\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407ae6376b5\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth\/#A_monumental_event_in_Earths_history\" >A monumental event in Earth&#8217;s history<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth\/#The_bacterial_tree_of_life\" >The bacterial tree of life<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth\/#A_surprising_twist\" >A surprising twist<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-gallery lightGallery\">\n<div data-thumb=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/tmb\/2019\/7-bacteria.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2019\/7-bacteria.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Credit: CC0 Public Domain\">\n<figure class=\"article-img\">\n            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2019\/7-bacteria.jpg\" alt=\"bacteria\" title=\"Credit: CC0 Public Domain\" width=\"800\" height=\"480\"\/><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js text-truncate mt-3\">\n                Credit: CC0 Public Domain<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There are roughly <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC9986037\/\" target=\"_blank\">a trillion species<\/a> of microorganisms on Earth\u2014the vast majority of which are bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>Bacteria consist of a single cell. They do not have bones and are not like big animals that leave clear signs in the geological record, which thankful paleontologists can study many millions of years later.<\/p>\n<p>This has made it very hard for scientists to establish a timeline of their early evolution. But with the help of machine learning, we have been able to fill in many of the details. Our new research, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.adp1853\" target=\"_blank\">published today in <i>Science<\/i><\/a>, also reveals some bacteria developed the ability to use oxygen long before the Earth became saturated with it roughly 2.4 billion years ago.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_monumental_event_in_Earths_history\"><\/span>A monumental event in Earth&#8217;s history<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>About 4.5 billion years ago, the moon formed. Violently. A Mars-size object collided with Earth, turning its surface into molten rock. If life existed before this cataclysm, it was probably destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>After that, the current ancestors of all living beings <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>eared: single-celled microbes. For the first 80% of life&#8217;s history, the Earth was inhabited solely by these microbes.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution, as evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/online.ucpress.edu\/abt\/article-abstract\/35\/3\/125\/9833\/Nothing-in-Biology-Makes-Sense-except-in-the-Light\" target=\"_blank\">famously said<\/a> in 1973. But how did the evolution of life proceed through the early history of the Earth?<\/p>\n<p>Comparing DNA sequences from the wonderful diversity of life we see today can tell us how different groups relate to each other. For ibnstance, we humans are more closely related to mushrooms than we are to apple trees. Likewise, such comparisons can tell us how different groups of bacteria are related to each other.<\/p>\n<p>But comparison of DNA sequences can only take us so far. DNA comparisons do not say when in Earth&#8217;s history evolutionary events took place. At one point in time, an organism reproduced two offspring. One of them gave rise to mushrooms, the other to humans (and lots of other species too). But when exactly did that organism live? How many years ago?<\/p>\n<p>One thing geology teaches us about is the existence of another monumental event in the history of Earth, 2.4 billion years ago. At that time, the atmosphere of Earth changed dramatically. A group of bacteria called the cyanobacteria invented a trick that would alter the story of life forever: photosynthesis.<\/p>\n<p>Harvesting energy from the sun powered their cells. But it also generated an inconvenient waste product, oxygen gas.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"mb-4\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\">\n    <meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"1 trillion species, 3 billion years: How we used AI to trace the evolution of bacteria on Earth\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch\/?v=dO2xx-aeZ4w\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"1 trillion species, 3 billion years: How we used AI to trace the evolution of bacteria on Earth\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-04-04T06:42:49-04:00\"\/><br \/>\n        <meta itemprop=\"embedUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dO2xx-aeZ4w\"\/><br \/>\n    <meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/dO2xx-aeZ4w\/maxresdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n             <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How a single-celled organism almost wiped out life on Earth - Anusuya Willis\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dO2xx-aeZ4w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n         <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Over the course of millions of years, oxygen in the atmosphere slowly accumulated. Before this &#8220;Great Oxidation Event,&#8221; the Earth contained almost no oxygen, so life was not ready for it. In fact, to uninitiated bacteria, oxygen is a poisonous gas, and so its release into the atmosphere probably caused a mass extinction. The surviving bacteria either evolved to use oxygen, or retreated into the recesses of the planet where it doesn&#8217;t penetrate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ads w-100 my-4 article-main__more bg-light p-3 border\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-3\">\n        Discover the latest in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a>, tech, and space with over <strong>100,000 subscribers<\/strong> who rely on Phys.org for daily insights.<br \/>\n        Sign up for our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/newsletter\/\" target=\"_blank\">free newsletter<\/a> and get updates on breakthroughs,<br \/>\n        innovations, and research that matter\u2014<strong>daily or weekly<\/strong>.\n    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_bacterial_tree_of_life\"><\/span>The bacterial tree of life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Great Oxidation Event is especially interesting for us not only because of its impact on the history of life, but also because it can be given a clear date. We know it happened around 2.4 billion years ago\u2014and we also know most bacteria that adapted to oxygen had to live after this event. We used this information to layer on dates to the bacterial tree of life.<\/p>\n<p>We started by training an artificial intelligence (AI) model to predict whether a bacteria lives with oxygen or not from the genes it has. Many bacteria we see today use oxygen, such as cyanobacteria and others that live in the ocean. But many do not, such as the bacteria that live in our gut.<\/p>\n<p>As far as machine learning tasks go, this one was quite straightforward. The chemical power of oxygen markedly changes a bacteria&#8217;s genome because a cell&#8217;s metabolism becomes organized around oxygen use, and so there are many clues in the data.<\/p>\n<p>We then applied our machine-learning models to predict which bacteria used oxygen in the past. This was possible because modern techniques allow us to estimate not only how the species we see today are related, but also which genes each ancestor carried in its genome.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_surprising_twist\"><\/span>A surprising twist<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>By using the planet-wide geological event of the Great Oxidation Event effectively as a &#8220;fossil&#8221; calibration point, our approach produced a detailed timeline of bacterial evolution.<\/p>\n<p>Combining results from geology, paleontology, phylogenetics and machine learning, we were able to refine the timing of bacterial evolution significantly.<\/p>\n<p>Our results also revealed a surprising twist: some bacterial lineages capable of using oxygen existed roughly 900 million years before the Great Oxidation Event. This suggests these bacteria evolved the ability to use oxygen even when atmospheric oxygen was scarce.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, our findings indicated that cyanobacteria actually evolved the ability to use oxygen before they developed photosynthesis.<\/p>\n<p>This framework not only reshapes our understanding of bacterial evolutionary history but also illustrates how life&#8217;s capabilities evolved in response to Earth&#8217;s changing environments.<\/p>\n<div class=\"d-inline-block text-medium mt-4\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProvided by<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Conversation<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"icon_open\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<use href=\"https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/svg\/sprite.svg#icon_open\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"article-main__note mt-4\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t  This article is republished from <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/1-trillion-species-3-billion-years-how-we-used-ai-to-trace-the-evolution-of-bacteria-on-earth-253720\" target=\"_blank\">original article<\/a>.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/253720\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- print only --><\/p>\n<div class=\"d-none d-print-block\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Citation<\/strong>:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOne trillion species, 3 billion years: How we used AI to trace the evolution of bacteria on Earth (2025, April 5)<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 5 April 2025<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>\/2025-04-trillion-species-billion-years-ai.html\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script id=\"facebook-jssdk\" async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/sciencee\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Science category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-04-trillion-species-billion-years-ai.html\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: CC0 Public Domain There are roughly a trillion species of microorganisms on Earth\u2014the vast majority of which are bacteria. Bacteria consist of a single cell. They do not have bones and are not like big animals that leave clear signs in the geological record, which thankful paleontologists can study many millions of years later&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":660968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/scx2.b-cdn.net\/gfx\/news\/hires\/2019\/7-bacteria.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sciencee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}