ArticleNature ecology & evolution2021
Timing the origin of eukaryotic cellular complexity with ancient duplications.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 57 papers.
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Who cites it
57 citing papers in PubMed, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Phylogenetic ancestry of Metamonada proteins points to a common origin of mitochondria in all eukaryotes.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Eukaryotic-like microtubules and dynamic instability of Asgard archaeal tubulins.Science advances · 2026Article
- A protein interactome for the last eukaryotic common ancestor illuminates the biochemical basis of modern genetic diseases.Cell genomics · 2026Article
- Divergent evolution of the PRPS enzymes across the tree of life.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Phylogenomics of Asgard archaea reveals a unique blend of prokaryotic-like horizontal transfer and eukaryotic-like gene duplication.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Nucleosome positioning shapes cryptic antisense transcription.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- Microcompartments in archaeal ancestors of eukaryotes: a bioenergetic engine that could have fuelled eukaryogenesis.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Eukaryogenesis From FECA to LECA: Radical Steps Along the Way.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2025Review
- Phylogeny-aware Simulations Suggest a Low Impact of Unsampled Lineages in the Inference of Gene Flow During Eukaryogenesis.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Phylogenomic Analyses Reveal that Panguiarchaeum Is a Clade of Genome-Reduced Asgard Archaea Within the Njordarchaeia.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- DPANN Archaea and CPR Bacteria: insights into early cellular evolution?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Mitochondria - the CEO of the cell.Journal of cell science · 2025Review
- Article
- Asgard Arf GTPases can act as membrane-associating molecular switches with the potential to function in organelle biogenesis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The Asgard archaeal origins of Arf family GTPases involved in eukaryotic organelle dynamics.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Eukaryogenesis is one of the most enigmatic evolutionary transitions, during which simple prokaryotic cells gave rise to complex eukaryotic cells. While evolutionary intermediates are lacking, gene duplications provide information on the order of events by which eukaryotes originated. Here we use a phylogenomics approach to reconstruct successive steps during eukaryogenesis. We find that gene duplications roughly doubled the proto-eukaryotic gene repertoire, with families inherited from the Asgard archaea-related host being duplicated most. By relatively timing events using phylogenetic distances, we inferred that duplications in cytoskeletal and membrane-trafficking families were among the earliest events, whereas most other families expanded predominantly after mitochondrial endosymbiosis. Altogether, we infer that the host that engulfed the proto-mitochondrion had some eukaryote-like complexity, which drastically increased upon mitochondrial acquisition. This scenario bridges the signs of complexity observed in Asgard archaeal genomes to the proposed role of mitochondria in triggering eukaryogenesis.
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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.