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A fossil from 1.6 billion years ago was found in phosphate-rich sedimentary rocks in Chitrakoot in Central India. Researchers and scientists say that this is the first two-celled organism fossil that has nuclei. The specimens found have structures like those of red algae.

Therese Sallstedt, a geobiologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History said that plants have a major role for the study of life on Earth because it shows considerably how old the earth is which creates a ripple effect on the world's appreciation of the newly discovered life forms that is slowly appearing on the evolutionary scene.

Before the discovery of this new algae found to be from 1.6 billion years ago, the oldest plants known to have been discovered and have undergone a thorough study on its existence were of a 1.2 billion-year-old algae fossil that was discovered in the Canadian Arctic, the Reuters reported.

The algae's fossil structures matched the overall shape of the red algae which is a plant from long ago that thrives in the present times in coral reefs and marine settings. It also can be found in freshwater environments and is commonly called Nori, an ingredient that is almost always present in making sushi. Sallstedt joked in an interview that with the existence of these algae, people could have had sushi 1.6 billion years ago.

Plant fossils and early plant life on Earth were discovered and a study shows that it dates back from 3.5 billion years ago and also resembles the red algae just like the newly discovered fossil but only was dated back for 1.6 billion years then; yet only contained single-celled organisms lacking nuclei and organelles that are specialized cellular structures.

In an article of the Live Science, the specimens discovered were composed of robust structures and filaments which amazingly sprouted to be 400 million years older than previously studied fossil algae discoveries. According to the study researchers, discoveries just like of the fossil algae in India hints that multicellular life evolved on Earth earlier than most studies have thought of.