The emerging view on the origin and early evolution of eukaryotic cells

Julian Vosseberg, Jolien J. E. Hooff, Stephan Köstlbacher, Kassiani Panagiotou, Daniel Tamarit and Thijs J. G. Ettema ()
Additional contact information
Julian Vosseberg: Wageningen University & Research
Jolien J. E. Hooff: Wageningen University & Research
Stephan Köstlbacher: Wageningen University & Research
Kassiani Panagiotou: Wageningen University & Research
Daniel Tamarit: Utrecht University
Thijs J. G. Ettema: Wageningen University & Research

Nature, 2024, vol. 633, issue 8029, 295-305

Abstract: Abstract The origin of the eukaryotic cell, with its compartmentalized nature and generally large size compared with bacterial and archaeal cells, represents a cornerstone event in the evolution of complex life on Earth. In a process referred to as eukaryogenesis, the eukaryotic cell is believed to have evolved between approximately 1.8 and 2.7 billion years ago from its archaeal ancestors, with a symbiosis with a bacterial (proto-mitochondrial) partner being a key event. In the tree of life, the branch separating the first from the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes is long and lacks evolutionary intermediates. As a result, the timing and driving forces of the emergence of complex eukaryotic features remain poorly understood. During the past decade, environmental and comparative genomic studies have revealed vital details about the identity and nature of the host cell and the proto-mitochondrial endosymbiont, enabling a critical reappraisal of hypotheses underlying the symbiotic origin of the eukaryotic cell. Here we outline our current understanding of the key players and events underlying the emergence of cellular complexity during the prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition and discuss potential avenues of future research that might provide new insights into the enigmatic origin of the eukaryotic cell.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07677-6 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:633:y:2024:i:8029:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07677-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07677-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().