Stop relying on the famous paradox “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” » to liven up your evenings: a study published on November 6, 2024 concluded that it was indeed an egg that arrived first, reports Numerama.
A marine organism solves the mystery
The revelation is based on the work of a biochemist from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) who observed at length Chromosphaera perkinsiia single-celled organism found in the deep ocean near Hawaii and whose presence on Earth dates back more than a billion years.
It appears that Chromosphaera perkinsii is capable of “multicellular differentiation” – that is, the same embryonic process that exists in animals and of which the egg is the “fruit”. Numerama explains that the study shows that this organism even forms an equivalent of the blastula (the early stage of an embryo).
Our “Evolution” file
And as this “cousin” organism preceded animals – remember that it has existed for more than a billion years – the ability to develop embryos therefore also preceded the appearance of animals. We can therefore conclude, thanks to genetics, that the egg predates the chicken!
