A Briefly Argued Case That Asgard Archaea Are Part of the Eukaryote Tree

Frontiers in Microbiology
Gregory P Fournier, Anthony M Poole

Abstract

The recent discovery of the Lokiarchaeota and other members of the Asgard superphylum suggests that closer analysis of the cell biology and evolution of these groups may help shed light on the origin of the eukaryote cell. Asgard lineages often appear in molecular phylogenies as closely related to eukaryotes, and possess "Eukaryote Signature Proteins" coded by genes previously thought to be unique to eukaryotes. This phylogenetic affinity to eukaryotes has been widely interpreted as indicating that Asgard lineages are "eukaryote-like archaea," with eukaryotes evolving from within a paraphyletic Archaea. Guided by the established principles of systematics, we examine the potential implications of the monophyly of Asgard lineages and Eukarya. We show that a helpful parallel case is that of Synapsida, a group that includes modern mammals and their more "reptile-like" ancestors, united by shared derived characters that evolved in their common ancestor. While this group contains extinct members that share many similarities with modern reptiles and their extinct relatives, they are evolutionarily distinct from Sauropsida, the group which includes modern birds, reptiles, and all other amniotes. Similarly, Asgard lineages and eukaryote...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 20, 2019·BMC Evolutionary Biology·Juan A Subirana, Xavier Messeguer
Nov 13, 2018·Frontiers in Microbiology·Heather L Hendrickson, Anthony M Poole
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Feb 8, 2021·Bio Systems·František Baluška, Sherrie Lyons
Jun 3, 2021·International Journal of Molecular Sciences·Ahmad IbrahimDidier Raoult
Jul 14, 2021·Genome Biology and Evolution·Yutian FengJohann Peter Gogarten

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