title: From the primordial soup to the latest universal common ancestor.
abstract: This special issue of Research in Microbiology is dedicated to the origin of Life and of microbiology. One hundred and fifty years after Darwin's 'Origin of the Species', which is basically about the principles of natural selection, the origin of Life, which largely coincides with the origin of natural selection, remains the most enigmatic and fascinating problem in biology.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Bacteriology Research, Faculty Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Ghent, 3 Blok A, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Gent, Belgium. mario.vaneechoutte@UGent.be
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaneechoutte
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fani
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012641:Selection, Genetic