ArticleNature communications2021
A molecular timescale for eukaryote evolution with implications for the origin of red algal-derived plastids.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 141 papers.
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141 citing papers in PubMed.
- The evolutionary origins of streptophyte multicellularity.The New phytologist · 2026Review
- The mosaic of aquatic photorespiration: evolution, diversity, and global biogeochemical impacts.The New phytologist · 2026Review
- Topological mixing and irreversibility in animal chromosome evolution.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
- Sexual life cycle establishes the unicellular red algae Cyanidiophyceae as a genetically tractable model for eukaryotic evolution.The Plant cell · 2026Article
- Divergent evolution of the PRPS enzymes across the tree of life.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Nucleomorph phylogenomics suggests a deep and ancient origin of cryptophyte plastids within Rhodophyta.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Structure of giant kelp Photosystem I-FCP uncovers drivers of antenna evolution across the red lineage.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Structure and regulation of violaxanthin de-epoxidase, a key enzyme in the photoprotection of photosynthesis.Plant physiology · 2026Review
- The life cycle of fatty acids in oleaginous stramenopiles: from synthesis to maturation and beyond.BMC plant biology · 2026Review
- Small but mighty: mitochondrial DNA at the centre of retrograde signalling.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2026Review
- Structural basis of diadinoxanthin-Chl a/b-binding proteins in the photosystem I supercomplex ofScience advances · 2026Article
- The future of food: seaweed farming, biotechnology, and global sustainability.Biologia futura · 2026Review
- PharaohFUN: phylogenomic analysis for plant protein history and function elucidation.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- Global metagenomics reveals plastid diversity and unexplored algal lineages.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Reactive oxygen species drove red lineage phytoplankton to displace green lineage phytoplankton during the Mesozoic.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Mapping life's disparity and evolutionary constraints in a geometric complexity space.Science advances · 2026Article
- IPTG- and estradiol-inducible gene expression systems in the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae.Plant physiology · 2026Article
- Atomic models of the Toxoplasma cell invasion machinery.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
81 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In modern oceans, eukaryotic phytoplankton is dominated by lineages with red algal-derived plastids such as diatoms, dinoflagellates, and coccolithophores. Despite the ecological importance of these groups and many others representing a huge diversity of forms and lifestyles, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of their evolution and how they obtained their plastids. New hypotheses have emerged to explain the acquisition of red algal-derived plastids by serial endosymbiosis, but the chronology of these putative independent plastid acquisitions remains untested. Here, we establish a timeframe for the origin of red algal-derived plastids under scenarios of serial endosymbiosis, using Bayesian molecular clock analyses applied on a phylogenomic dataset with broad sampling of eukaryote diversity. We find that the hypotheses of serial endosymbiosis are chronologically possible, as the stem lineages of all red plastid-containing groups overlap in time. This period in the Meso- and Neoproterozoic Eras set the stage for the later expansion to dominance of red algal-derived primary production in the contemporary oceans, which profoundly altered the global geochemical and ecological conditions of the Earth.
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