Toggle Main Menu Toggle Search

Open Access padlockePrints

Changing ideas about eukaryotic origins

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Tom Williams, Emeritus Professor T. Martin Embley FMedSci FRSORCiD

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.


Abstract

The origin of eukaryotic cells is one of the most fascinating challenges in biology, and has inspired decades of controversy and debate. Recent work has led to major upheavals in our understanding of eukaryotic origins and has catalysed new debates about the roles of endosymbiosis and gene flow across the tree of life. Improved methods of phylogenetic analysis support scenarios in which the host cell for the mitochondrial endosymbiont was a member of the Archaea, and new technologies for sampling the genomes of environmental prokaryotes have allowed investigators to home in on closer relatives of founding symbiotic partners. The inference and interpretation of phylogenetic trees from genomic data remains at the centre of many of these debates, and there is increasing recognition that trees built using inadequate methods can prove misleading, whether describing the relationship of eukaryotes to other cells or the root of the universal tree. New statistical approaches show promise for addressing these questions but they come with their own computational challenges. The papers in this theme issue discuss recent progress on the origin of eukaryotic cells and genomes, highlight some of the ongoing debates, and suggest possible routes to future progress.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Williams TA, Embley TM

Publication type: Editorial

Publication status: Published

Journal: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Biological Sciences

Year: 2015

Volume: 370

Issue: 1678

Print publication date: 26/09/2015

Online publication date: 31/08/2015

Acceptance date: 20/07/2015

ISSN (print): 0962-8436

ISSN (electronic): 1471-2970

Publisher: The Royal Society Publishing

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0318

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0318


Share