Cited by 92Protist diversity and phylogenyPaleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsOrigins and Evolution of Life

Energy metabolism among eukaryotic anaerobes in light of Proterozoic ocean chemistry

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Mentel, Marek, Martin, William·2008·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed major upheavals in views about early eukaryotic evolution. One very significant finding was that mitochondria, including hydrogenosomes and the newly discovered mitosomes, are just as ubiquitous and defining among eukaryotes as the nucleus itself. A second important advance concerns the readjustment, still in progress, about phylogenetic relationships among eukaryotic groups and the roughly six new eukaryotic supergroups that are currently at the focus of much attention. From the standpoint of energy metabolism (the biochemical means through which eukaryotes gain their ATP, thereby enabling any and all evolution of other traits), understanding of mitochondria among eukaryotic anaerobes has improved. The mainstream formulations of endosymbiotic theory did not predict the ubiquity of mitochondria among anaerobic eukaryotes, while an alternative hypothesis that specifically addressed the evolutionary origin of energy metabolism among eukaryotic anaerobes did. Those developments in biology have been paralleled by a similar upheaval in the Earth sciences regarding views about the prevalence of oxygen in the oceans during the Proterozoic (the time from ca 2.5 to 0.6 Ga ago). The new model of Proterozoic ocean chemistry indicates that the oceans were anoxic and sulphidic during most of the Proterozoic. Its proponents suggest the underlying geochemical mechanism to entail the weathering of continental sulphides by atmospheric oxygen to sulphate, which was carried into the oceans as sulphate, fueling marine sulphate reducers (anaerobic, hydrogen sulphide-producing prokaryotes) on a global scale. Taken together, these two mutually compatible developments in biology and geology underscore the evolutionary significance of oxygen-independent ATP-generating pathways in mitochondria, including those of various metazoan groups, as a watermark of the environments within which eukaryotes arose and diversified into their major lineages.

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Crossref · 10.1098/rstb.2008.0031

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  • The earliest animals and eukaryotes more generally required only low levels of oxygen.

    “Contributing to this viewpoint are suggestions that the earliest animals (Mills et al., 2014) and eukaryotes more generally (Mentel and Martin, 2008) required only low levels of oxygen.”

    From Oxygenation, Life, and the Planetary System during Earth's Middle History: An Overview (2021) · cites this paper as Mentel and Martin, 2008

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Authors
Mentel, M., & Martin, W.
Affiliations
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE)
Corresponding author
Martin, William
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Published
2008-05-09
Volume
363
Issue
1504
Pages
2717-2729
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
OpenAlex
W2151170835
Cited by
92
References
169
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 8
FWCI
0.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Massey University
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • Ministry of Science Research and Technology
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
Keywords
energy metabolism, anoxic oceans, endosymbiotic theory, mitochondria, hydrogenosomes, mitosomes, eukaryotic supergroups, sulfate-reducing bacteria, early eukaryotic evolution
MeSH terms
Anaerobiosis, Animals, Energy Metabolism, Eukaryotic Cells, Biological Evolution, Fungi, Mitochondria, Oceans and Seas, Sulfides, Symbiosis, Trichomonas, Organelles

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