User:Gretashum/Last universal common ancestor/Kcshaffman Peer Review

General info
(Gretashum)
 * Whose work are you reviewing?


 * Link to draft you're reviewing:User:Gretashum/Last universal common ancestor
 * Link to the current version of the article (if it exists):Last universal common ancestor

Evaluate the drafted changes
(Compose a detailed peer review here, considering each of the key aspects listed above if it is relevant. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what feedback looks like.)

Notes on how I did the peer review.[edit]
- bracketed [] terms should be linked terms

-in-line suggested edits are BOLD

-Notes from me are italicized

1. I like the hedging wording you used to describe the Weiss experiement. Good to point out that this was not a widely excepted thing.

2. I see you added to this paragraph, this seems to be reasonable addition:

The functionality of LUCA as well as evidence for the early evolution membrane-dependent biological systems together suggest that LUCA had cellularity and cell membranes. [24] As for the cell's gross structure, it contained a water-based cytoplasm effectively enclosed by a lipid bilayer membrane; it was capable of reproducing by cell division.[25] It tended to exclude sodium and concentrate potassium by The LUCA used the Wood–Ljungdahl or reductive acetyl–CoA pathway to fix carbon, if it was an autotroph, or to respire anaerobically, if it was a heterotroph. means of specific ion transporters (or ion pumps). The cell multiplied by duplicating all its contents followed by cellular division. The cell used chemiosmosis to produce energy. It also reduced CO2 and oxidized H2 (methanogenesis or acetogenesis) via acetyl-thioesters.[26][27]

''3. I like the a part you added about UV and LUCA. Maybe add why UV would be damaging to nucleotides. ''

4. Under Alternative interpretations, I found the following sentence difficult to read, consider rewording it.

"Attempts to attribute LUCA's environment from near-universal gene distribution (as in Weiss et al. 2016) risk, on the one hand, misattributing convergence or horizontal gene transfer events to vertical descent and, on the other hand, misattributing potential LUCA gene families as horizontal gene transfer events. [37]"

5. Something you might want to add, which I did not see, is that phylogenetics may suggest that LUCA was from a hydrothermal vent, but this does not mean that the origin of Life happened in that environment. There may have been a mass extinction that bottlenecked life to hydrothermal systems.

6. The edits you made improve the quality of the article, the only thing I would suggest adding is what i have posted in "5."

Response to Kevin's review
Very grateful for Kevin's comments, which I've taken to heart. I've added explanation for why UV damages nucleotides [3], reworded the sentence about misinterpreting near-universal gene distribution [4], and added a sentence disconnecting a thermophilic LUCA from Ool [5].