Seeing Before LUCA
Most genes trace back to LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor, ~4.2 billion years ago) and stop. But universal paralogs — rare genes present in nearly all organisms with two copies — were duplicated BEFORE LUCA. Both copies were inherited by all descendants. These ancient pairs let us see evolution that predates the origin point of all modern life. All known universal paralogs involve protein synthesis or membrane transport — the oldest functions.
Goldman, Fournier, Kaçar — Cell Genomics, Feb 2026
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