EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The first fossils of prokaryotic (bacterial) cells are known from 3.5 and 3.4 billion years ago. These bacteria were photosynthetic (although non-oxygen producing) so it is likely that simpler non-photosynthetic bacteria evolved prior to this (Schopf, 1987; Beukes, 2004).

Detailed explanation-2: -We now know that prokaryotes were likely the first forms of cellular life on Earth, and they existed for billions of years before plants and animals appeared. The Earth and its moon are dated at about 4.54 billion years in age.

Detailed explanation-3: -The first cells were most likely primitive prokaryotic-like cells, even more simplistic than these E. coli bacteria. The first cells were probably no more than organic compounds, such as a simplistic RNA, surrounded by a membrane.