Eukarya the chimera: eukaryotes, a secondary innovation of the two domains of life?

0557779 - BC 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Nobs, S.J. - MacLeod, F.I. - Wong, Hon Lun - Burns, B.P.
Eukarya the chimera: eukaryotes, a secondary innovation of the two domains of life?
Trends in Microbiology. Roč. 30, č. 5 (2022), s. 421-431. ISSN 0966-842X. E-ISSN 1878-4380
Institutional support: RVO:60077344
Keywords : horizontal gene-transfer * escrt machinery * asgard archaea * evolution * proteins * complex * architecture
OECD category: Microbiology
Impact factor: 15.9, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2021.11.003

One of the most significant events in the evolution of life is the origin of the eukaryotic cell, an increase in cellular complexity that occurred approximately 2 billion years ago. Ground-breaking research has centered around unraveling the nuanced archaeal and bacterial contributions in eukaryogenesis, resulting in fundamental changes in our understanding of the Tree of Life. The archaeal and bacterial roles are covered by theories of endosymbiogenesis wherein an ancestral host archaeon and a bacterial endosymbiont merged to create a new complex cell type Eukarya and its mitochondrion. Eukarya is often regarded as a unique and distinct domain due to complex innovations not found in archaea or bacteria, despite housing a chimeric genome containing genes of both archaeal and bacterial origin. However, the discovery of complex cell machineries in recently described Asgard archaeal lineages, and the growing support for diverse bacterial gene transfers prior to and during the time of LECA, is redefining our understanding of eukaryogenesis. Indeed, the uniqueness of Eukarya, as a domain, is challenged. It is likely that many microbial syntrophies, encompassing a 'microbial village', were required to 'raise' a eukaryote during the process of eukaryogenesis.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0340850