Deep Phylogeny--How a Tree Can Help Characterize Early Life on Earth
Open accessAbstract
The Darwinian concept of biological evolution assumes that life on Earth shares a common ancestor. The diversification of this common ancestor through speciation events and vertical transmission of genetic material implies that the classification of life can be illustrated in a tree-like manner, commonly referred to as the Tree of Life. This article describes features of the Tree of Life, such as how the tree has been both pruned and become bushier throughout the past century as our knowledge of biology has expanded. We present current views that the classification of life may be best illustrated as a ring or even a coral with tree-like characteristics. This article also discusses how the organization of the Tree of Life offers clues about ancient life on Earth. In particular, we focus on the environmental conditions and temperature history of Precambrian life and show how chemical, biological, and geological data can converge to better understand this history."You know, a tree is a tree. How many more do you need to look at?"--Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), quoted in the Sacramento Bee, opposing expansion of Redwood National Park, March 3, 1966.
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LUCA was a thermophile or hyperthermophile.
“Model reconstruction of ancient RNA suggests that LUCA was a thermophile (high-heat-tolerating organism) or hyperthermophile (very-high-heat-tolerating organism) (Gaucher et al., 2010).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Gaucher et al., 2010
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The Hadean-Archaean Environment
Sleep, N. H. (2010) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a002527 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
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“structed? The ‘‘tree of life,’’ a diagram that organizes all living biological organisms, is designed in a way that allows us to understand the evolutionary relationship and shared features of those organisms (Gaucher et al., 2010).”
InfluentialPhylogenetic Signal, Congruence, and Uncertainty across Bacteria and Archaea
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Insights into the microbiology of the chaotropic brines of Salar de Atacama, Chile
Cubillos, C. F., Paredes, A., Yáñez, C., Palma, J., Severino, E., Vejar, D., Grágeda, M., & Dorador, C. (2019) · Frontiers in Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.01611 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gaucher, E. A., Kratzer, J. T., & Randall, R. N.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gaucher, E. A.
- Venue
- Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
- Publisher
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Published
- 2009-11-25
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- a002238-a002238
- ISSN
- 1943-0264 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2827910
- OpenAlex
- W2154519804
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- SMARTech Repository (Georgia Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- tree of life, phylogenetic tree, deep phylogeny, common ancestry, speciation, vertical gene transfer, Precambrian life, early life on Earth, thermal history, molecular phylogeny
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Environment, Escherichia coli, Biological Evolution, Paleontology, Phylogeny, Temperature, Thermus, History, Ancient
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