The very first forms of life may have been more animal-like than we ever realized - Live Science

Early life may have been far more like animals than we thought, suggests new research that shows bacteria can 'develop' like an embryo.

Now an international team of researchers led by evolutionary geneticist Momir Futo from the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Croatia has discovered biofilms develop like a multicellular organism, too. .

The researchers established a timeline of gene expression across the whole biofilm as it developed, from a few initial cells until it was two months old.

The order of gene expression during biofilm growth mirrors the timing of these genes' evolution - just like the expressions of genes in developing animal embryos. .

"This means that bacteria are true multicellular organisms just like we are," said Domazet-Lošo.

"Considering that the oldest known fossils are bacterial biofilms, it is quite likely that the first life was also multicellular, and not a single-celled creature as considered so far.".

It also remains to be seen if other embryogenesis features – like localized waves of new gene expressions – are also present in biofilms.

As biofilms are responsible for more than 80 percent of microbial infections in our bodies, they would certainly also play a large role in how our friendly bacteria function too, so understanding how these not-so-single organisms develop and work together could help with a myriad of medical problems.