description: It is now accepted that microbial life followed very quickly after the formation of liquid water on the early earth, and that for the next 3,000 million years life was a unicellular phenomenon. During this immense period of time all the major types of microbes appeared, as did all the fundamental chemical pathways necessary for life. This diversification was not appreciated until the techniques of molecular biology provided a means to examine the relationships among microorganisms that share few, if any, phenotypic characteristics. This volume reviews the current understanding of the evolution of microbial life during that time. The chapters draw together the various threads of the story to reveal what has been learned about the process of evolution itself and how this knowledge can contribute to our understanding of biodiversity.
language: English
title: Evolution of Microbial Life
titlecomplete: Evolution of Microbial Life (Society for General Microbiology Symposia, Series Number 54)
publisher: Cambridge University Press