Complex archaea that bridge the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes

Autor(en)
Anja Spang, Jimmy H. Saw, Steffen Jorgensen, Katarzyna Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka, Joran Martijn, Anders E. Lind, Roel van Eijk, Christa Schleper, Lionel Guy, Thijs J G Ettema
Abstrakt

The origin of the eukaryotic cell remains one of the most contentious puzzles in modern biology. Recent studies have provided support for the emergence of the eukaryotic host cell from within the archaeal domain of life, but the identity and nature of the putative archaeal ancestor remain a subject of debate. Here we describe the discovery of ‘Lokiarchaeota’, a novel candidate archaeal phylum, which forms a monophyletic group with eukaryotes in phylogenomic analyses, and whose genomes encode an expanded repertoire of eukaryotic signature proteins that are suggestive of sophisticated membrane remodelling capabilities. Our results provide strong support for hypotheses in which the eukaryotic host evolved from a bona fide archaeon, and demonstrate that many components that underpin eukaryote-specific features were already present in that ancestor. This provided the host with a rich genomic ‘starter-kit’ to support the increase in the cellular and genomic complexity that is characteristic of eukaryotes.

Organisation(en)
Externe Organisation(en)
Uppsala University, University of Bergen (UiB)
Journal
Nature
Band
521
Seiten
173-179
Anzahl der Seiten
7
ISSN
0028-0836
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14447
Publikationsdatum
05-2015
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
106022 Mikrobiologie
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/complex-archaea-that-bridge-the-gap-between-prokaryotes-and-eukaryotes(766cf386-e258-4130-a3f1-fc673d17f00e).html