Discovering life's last universal common ancestor, or LUCA for short, is one of the great unresolved quests of science. Researchers scouring for traces of the elusive LUCA look for shared traits that exist between all three of the major branches of life: archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes (the cells that make up plants, animals, fungi, algae and everything else).
Now scientists based at the University of Illinois think they may have uncovered a breakthrough: a primitive organelle that can be found within all types of organisms, reports Physorg.com.
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Related article: "Last universal common ancestor more complex than previously thought"
(http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-universal-common-ancestor-complex-previously.html)
