Parallel adaptations to high temperatures in the Archaean eon

Bastien Boussau, Samuel Blanquart, Anamaria Necsulea, Nicolas Lartillot and Manolo Gouy ()
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Bastien Boussau: Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
Samuel Blanquart: LIRMM, CNRS, 161 rue Ada, 34392 Montpellier, France
Anamaria Necsulea: Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre, 69622 Villeurbanne, France
Nicolas Lartillot: LIRMM, CNRS, 161 rue Ada, 34392 Montpellier, France
Manolo Gouy: Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre, 69622 Villeurbanne, France

Nature, 2008, vol. 456, issue 7224, 942-945

Abstract: LUCA blows hot and cold There is a fascination about the quest to learn more about 'LUCA', the hypothetical last universal common ancestor from which all current living organisms are descended. Fossil evidence from the time, 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago, is sparse and so LUCA hunters rely on indirect evidence for information on LUCA's biology and environment. Reconstructions of ancestral protein sequences based on genetic evidence from extant genomes pointed to a hot environment, and a thermophilic LUCA. But ribosomal RNA sequences were thought consistent with a cooler environment. A new 'molecular thermometer' method may have resolved this apparent discrepancy. The analysis of rRNA and protein sequences from hundreds of modern species using the latest mathematical models of molecular evolution suggests that there were two phases of environmental temperature change. What was to become LUCA was first mesophilic, living in waters at about 60°C, then adapted to higher temperatures, above 70°C, to produce a thermophilic common ancestor. As the oceans then cooled the Bacteria and Archaea–Eukaryota diversified.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07393

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