ArticleGenome biology and evolution2021
The Asgard Archaeal-Unique Contribution to Protein Families of the Eukaryotic Common Ancestor Was 0.3.
Article in Genome biology and evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Universal and Lineage-Specific Patterns in the Distribution of ECOD Domain Homology Groups Across Superkingdoms.Proteins · 2026Article
- Chimeric origins and dynamic evolution of central carbon metabolism in eukaryotes.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The identification of the asgard archaea has fueled speculations regarding the nature of the archaeal host in eukaryogenesis and its level of complexity prior to endosymbiosis. Here, we analyzed the coding capacity of 150 eukaryotes, 1,000 bacteria, and 226 archaea, including the only cultured member of the asgard archaea. Clustering methods that consistently recover endosymbiotic contributions to eukaryotic genomes recover an asgard archaeal-unique contribution of a mere 0.3% to protein families present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor, while simultaneously suggesting that this group's diversity rivals that of all other archaea combined. The number of homologs shared exclusively between asgard archaea and eukaryotes is only 27 on average. This tiny asgard archaeal-unique contribution to the root of eukaryotic protein families questions claims that archaea evolved complexity prior to eukaryogenesis. Genomic and cellular complexity remains a eukaryote-specific feature and is best understood as the archaeal host's solution to housing an endosymbiont.
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