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Cited by 389

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 16 of the 16 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The archaebacterial origin of eukaryotes

Open access
Cox, Cymon J., Foster, Peter G., Hirt, Robert P., Harris, Simon R., Embley, T. Martin·2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The origin of the eukaryotic genetic apparatus is thought to be central to understanding the evolution of the eukaryotic cell. Disagreement about the source of the relevant genes has spawned competing hypotheses for the origins of the eukaryote nuclear lineage. The iconic rooted 3-domains tree of life shows eukaryotes and archaebacteria as separate groups that share a common ancestor to the exclusion of eubacteria. By contrast, the eocyte hypothesis has eukaryotes originating within the archaebacteria and sharing a common ancestor with a particular group called the Crenarchaeota or eocytes. Here, we have investigated the relative support for each hypothesis from analysis of 53 genes spanning the 3 domains, including essential components of the eukaryotic nucleic acid replication, transcription, and translation apparatus. As an important component of our analysis, we investigated the fit between model and data with respect to composition. Compositional heterogeneity is a pervasive problem for reconstruction of ancient relationships, which, if ignored, can produce an incorrect tree with strong support. To mitigate its effects, we used phylogenetic models that allow for changing nucleotide or amino acid compositions over the tree and data. Our analyses favor a topology that supports the eocyte hypothesis rather than archaebacterial monophyly and the 3-domains tree of life.

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Metadata

Authors
Cox, C. J., Foster, P. G., Hirt, R. P., Harris, S. R., & Embley, T. M.
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2008-12-23
Volume
105
Issue
51
Pages
20356-20361
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2048739917
Cited by
389
References
16
FWCI
10.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The archaebacterial origin of eukaryotes. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1073/pnas.0810647105
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Cox, C. J., Foster, P. G., Hirt, R. P., Harris, S. R., & Embley, T. M. (2008). The archaebacterial origin of eukaryotes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810647105

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