A molecular timescale for eukaryote evolution with implications for the origin of red algal-derived plastids

Jürgen F. H. Strassert, Iker Irisarri, Tom A. Williams and Fabien Burki ()
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Jürgen F. H. Strassert: Uppsala University
Iker Irisarri: Uppsala University
Tom A. Williams: University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building
Fabien Burki: Uppsala University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22044-z

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