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The last common ancestor of plants and animals was a little single-celled organism that lived around 1.5 billion of years ago.

Now, TU Delft researchers have shown that even E. coli bacteria -- single-celled organisms only a few micrometres long -- can display this same phenomenon.

The researchers engineered yeast to act as single-celled drug factories and produce immune checkpoint inhibitors -- anticancer drugs that alert immune cells to the presence of cancer cells.

This breakthrough reshapes our understanding of the genetic origins of stem cells, offering a new perspective on the evolutionary ties between animals and their ancient single-celled relatives.

But how do non-moving single-celled organisms deal with light that is too intense?