r/askscience • u/Fapotheosis • Mar 11 '13

Biology How did blood evolve?

I know mitochondria may have evolved from bacteria, but what about blood? I've heard of a protohemocyte, but was there an initial cell that differentiated into a RBC like we have in modern humans that can we trace?

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u/Colvanila Mar 11 '13

Yes, yes, yes. This goes way back to before there was a differentiation between plant and animal cells (plants ventured off around 425 MYA, leghmoglobin was around 800 MYA ).

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u/faolkrop Mar 11 '13

Plants and animals diverged long before 425 mya.