ReviewNature reviews. Microbiology2020
The LUCA and its complex virome.
Review in Nature reviews. Microbiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed.
- Something old, something new? Herpesvirus genome packaging examined in light of lessons from the tailed bacteriophages.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Phylogenetic ancestry of Metamonada proteins points to a common origin of mitochondria in all eukaryotes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The Emergence of Life in the Light of Evolution.ArXiv · 2026Article
- Comprehensive analyses of archaeal viral genomes reveal genomic characteristics, divergence, and host interactions.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Virus taxonomy and the ICTV - 21 FAQs for the perplexed virologist.The Journal of general virology · 2026Review
- Reassessing viral origins and evolutionary placement in the tree of life.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2026Review
- Protein Architecture Comparisons and the Reconstruction of the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA).Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- A single-stranded DNA virus replicates in the mitochondria of a marine oomycete.Virus evolution · 2026Article
- Integrating Sequence- and Structure-Based Similarity Metrics for the Demarcation of Multiple Viral Taxonomic Levels.Viruses · 2025Article
- Diversity and evolution of viroids and viroid-like agents with circular RNA genomes revealed by metatranscriptome mining.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- The Possible Crystallization Process in the Origin of Bacteria, Archaea, Viruses, and Mobile Elements.Biology · 2024Article
- Metagenomic characterization of viruses and mobile genetic elements associated with the DPANN archaeal superphylum.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Biofilms in modern CaCOScientific reports · 2024Article
- Introduction to the Special Issue on Early Evolution and the Last Common Ancestor.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Article
- The Last Universal Common Ancestor of Ribosome-Encoding Organisms: Portrait of LUCA.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Review
- A New View of the Last Universal Common Ancestor.Journal of molecular evolution · 2024Article
- Review
- The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Viperin immunity evolved across the tree of life through serial innovations on a conserved scaffold.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- Phylogeny and disease associations of a widespread and ancient intestinal bacteriophage lineage.Nature communications · 2024Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The last universal cellular ancestor (LUCA) is the most recent population of organisms from which all cellular life on Earth descends. The reconstruction of the genome and phenotype of the LUCA is a major challenge in evolutionary biology. Given that all life forms are associated with viruses and/or other mobile genetic elements, there is no doubt that the LUCA was a host to viruses. Here, by projecting back in time using the extant distribution of viruses across the two primary domains of life, bacteria and archaea, and tracing the evolutionary histories of some key virus genes, we attempt a reconstruction of the LUCA virome. Even a conservative version of this reconstruction suggests a remarkably complex virome that already included the main groups of extant viruses of bacteria and archaea. We further present evidence of extensive virus evolution antedating the LUCA. The presence of a highly complex virome implies the substantial genomic and pan-genomic complexity of the LUCA itself.
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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.