ArticleNature2017
Asgard archaea illuminate the origin of eukaryotic cellular complexity.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 567 papers.
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Who cites it
567 citing papers in PubMed, 1,204 citations in OpenAlex.
- Redundant mispair excision mechanisms in eukaryotic DNA mismatch repair.Nucleus (Austin, Tex.) · 2026Review
- HELQ & Hel308: ancient enzymes of DNA repair and recombination.Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- Plant organelle division orchestrated by the mosaic machinery of endosymbiotic relics and eukaryotic host factors.Plant physiology · 2026Review
- Exploring archaeal resources for biomass-derived pentose utilization: pathways, extremozymes, and bioprocessing applications.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
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- Functional Specialization of Clathrin-Independent Endocytic Routes: Mechanisms and Cellular Roles.Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark) · 2026Review
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- Hsp70 diversification and repurposing across the tree of life: Lessons from the evolutionary and mechanistic trajectory of the Hsp70-Hsp110 chaperone system.The FEBS journal · 2026Review
- Characterization of aliA and aliB deletion mutants reveals a dominant role of AliA in Haloferax volcanii lipoprotein lipidation.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- Unraveling the coastal marine plastisphere archaeome.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Phylogenetic reconciliation supports a methanogenic ancestor of the Archaea and a derived origin for host-associated lineages.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A pentose bisphosphate pathway of nucleotide degradation in Promethearchaeum syntrophicum.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Eukaryotic-like microtubules and dynamic instability of Asgard archaeal tubulins.Science advances · 2026Article
- Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid-Proterozoic.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Structure and dynamics of a four-protofilament microtubule from Heimdallarchaeales α/β-tubulin.Science advances · 2026Article
507 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 6 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The origin and cellular complexity of eukaryotes represent a major enigma in biology. Current data support scenarios in which an archaeal host cell and an alphaproteobacterial (mitochondrial) endosymbiont merged together, resulting in the first eukaryotic cell. The host cell is related to Lokiarchaeota, an archaeal phylum with many eukaryotic features. The emergence of the structural complexity that characterizes eukaryotic cells remains unclear. Here we describe the 'Asgard' superphylum, a group of uncultivated archaea that, as well as Lokiarchaeota, includes Thor-, Odin- and Heimdallarchaeota. Asgard archaea affiliate with eukaryotes in phylogenomic analyses, and their genomes are enriched for proteins formerly considered specific to eukaryotes. Notably, thorarchaeal genomes encode several homologues of eukaryotic membrane-trafficking machinery components, including Sec23/24 and TRAPP domains. Furthermore, we identify thorarchaeal proteins with similar features to eukaryotic coat proteins involved in vesicle biogenesis. Our results expand the known repertoire of 'eukaryote-specific' proteins in Archaea, indicating that the archaeal host cell already contained many key components that govern eukaryotic cellular complexity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.