Reconstructing the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes

Thomas A Richards, Laura Eme, John M Archibald, Guy Leonard, Susana M Coelho, Alex de Mendoza, Christophe Dessimoz, Pavel Dolezal, Lillian K Fritz-Laylin, Toni Gabaldón, Vladimír Hampl, Geert J P L Kops, Michelle M Leger, Purificacion Lopez-Garcia, James O McInerney, David Moreira, Sergio A Muñoz-Gómez, Daniel J Richter, Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo, Alyson E Santoro, Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, Berend Snel, Courtney W Stairs, Eelco C Tromer, Jolien J E van Hooff, Bill Wickstead, Tom A Williams, Andrew J Roger, Joel B Dacks and Jeremy G Wideman

PLOS Biology, 2024, vol. 22, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: Understanding the origin of eukaryotic cells is one of the most difficult problems in all of biology. A key challenge relevant to the question of eukaryogenesis is reconstructing the gene repertoire of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA). As data sets grow, sketching an accurate genomics-informed picture of early eukaryotic cellular complexity requires provision of analytical resources and a commitment to data sharing. Here, we summarise progress towards understanding the biology of LECA and outline a community approach to inferring its wider gene repertoire. Once assembled, a robust LECA gene set will be a useful tool for evaluating alternative hypotheses about the origin of eukaryotes and understanding the evolution of traits in all descendant lineages, with relevance in diverse fields such as cell biology, microbial ecology, biotechnology, agriculture, and medicine. In this Consensus View, we put forth the status quo and an agreed path forward to reconstruct LECA’s gene content.Understanding the origin of eukaryotic cells is one of the most difficult problems in all of biology. This Consensus View lays out guidelines to identify the gene repertoire of the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA), which will be crucial to evaluate alternative hypotheses about the origin of eukaryotes and the evolution of traits in all descendant lineages, something relevant to many fields across the life sciences.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002917 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/file ... 02917&type=printable (application/pdf)

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:plo:pbio00:3002917

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002917

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS Biology from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosbiology ().