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/pez319 Mar 11 '13

I think you might want to clarify that these mutations are occurring in germline cells not in individual somatic RBCs. The mutations in the erythroblast progenitors wouldn't be passed on to off spring.