After going down the fungi hole....

Perhaps the first step of terraforming involves using fungi... wonder if its possible aliens did terraform this planet....

Thats what your seeing in the opening scene of the aliens movie, Prometheus(which is the name of the greek god who created humans, which zeus then takes credit for, mirrors the story of enki and enlil lol.) Anyway, one of these "gods" sacrifices himself so that his dna can jump start the process.