Evolution of bacteria

Further chemical and isotopic analysis of ancient rock reveals that by the Siderian period, roughly 2.45 billion years ago,[5] oxygen had appeared.

They were one of the first living cells to evolve[9] and have spread to inhabit a variety of different habitats including hydrothermal vents, glacial rocks, and other organisms.

Some unique bacterial features include the cell wall (also found in plants and fungi), flagella (not common for all bacteria), and the nucleoid.

This is through the process of natural selection, whereby beneficial adaptations are passed onto future generations until the trait becomes common within the entire population.

This makes bacteria susceptible to environmental pressures, an issue that is overcome by sharing genetic information via transduction, transformation, or conjugation.

[citation needed] Thermotogota bacteria are typically thermophilic or hyperthermophilic, gram-negative staining, anaerobic organisms that can live near hydrothermal vents where temperatures can range between 55-95 °C.

[citation needed] More recent evidence suggests that Thermotogales evolved roughly between 3.2-3.5 billion years ago.

[15] The genus Thermotoga represents the majority of existing hyperthermophiles and are unique in that they are wrapped in an outer membrane that is referred to as a "toga".

[17] They have made a distinctive impact in pharmaceutical and agricultural industry due to their potential of making bioactive compounds with antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, and anti-algal properties.

[citation needed] These organisms had evolved photosynthetic reaction centres and became the first oxygen producing autotrophs to appear in the fossil record.

They utilise sunlight in order to drive their metabolic processes, which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases oxygen.