If you're interested in this stuff, you should check out the book "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane. It's an absolutely fascinating exploration of this topic.

If you're interested in this stuff, you should check out the book "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane. It's an absolutely fascinating exploration of this topic. Blew my mind. Basically, as best we know now life did have a common ancestor in ancient bacteria and there was a split at some point into eukaryotic bacteria/cells leading to more complex life.