Origin and Early Evolution of the Eukaryotic Cell
Abstract
The origin of eukaryotes has been defined as the major evolutionary transition since the origin of life itself. Most hallmark traits of eukaryotes, such as their intricate intracellular organization, can be traced back to a putative common ancestor that predated the broad diversity of extant eukaryotes. However, little is known about the nature and relative order of events that occurred in the path from preexisting prokaryotes to this already sophisticated ancestor. The origin of mitochondria from the endosymbiosis of an alphaproteobacterium is one of the few robustly established events to which most hypotheses on the origin of eukaryotes are anchored, but the debate is still open regarding the time of this acquisition, the nature of the host, and the ecological and metabolic interactions between the symbiotic partners. After the acquisition of mitochondria, eukaryotes underwent a fast radiation into several major clades whose phylogenetic relationships have been largely elusive. Recent progress in the comparative analyses of a growing number of genomes is shedding light on the early events of eukaryotic evolution as well as on the root and branching patterns of the tree of eukaryotes. Here I discuss current knowledge and debates on the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. I focus particularly on how phylogenomic analyses have challenged some of the early assumptions about eukaryotic evolution, including the widespread idea that mitochondrial symbiosis in an archaeal host was the earliest event in eukaryogenesis.
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The genetic core in the emerging nucleus became organized into chromosomes built around histone proteins provided by the archaeon and contains a mixture of genes from the archaeal partner and genes transferred from the developing mitochondria.
“The genetic core in the emerging nucleus became organized into chromosomes built around histone proteins provided by archaeon [19] and contains a mixture of genes from the archaeal partner and genes transferred from the developing mitochondria (bacterial partner) [21,161,162].”
From Opinion: The Key Steps in the Origin of Life to the Formation of the Eukaryotic Cell (2024) · cites this paper as [162]
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Hallsworth, J. E., Udaondo, Z., Pedrós‐Alió, C., Höfer, J., Benison, K. C., Lloyd, K. G., Cordero, R. J. B., de Campos, C. B. L., Yakimov, M. M., & Amils, R. (2023) · Microbial Biotechnology · doi:10.1111/1751-7915.14222 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Opinion: The Key Steps in the Origin of Life to the Formation of the Eukaryotic Cell
Brunk, C. F., & Marshall, C. R. (2024) · Life · doi:10.3390/life14020226 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Łabędzka-Dmoch, K., Bui, T. H. D., Piątkowski, J., Dilling, M., Jagiełło, P., Kabza, W., & Golik, P. (2026) · Molecular Biology and Evolution · doi:10.1093/molbev/msag005 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gabaldón, T.
- Affiliations
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Gabaldón, Toni
- ORCID
- Gabaldón, Toni
- Venue
- Annual Review of Microbiology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2021-10-08
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 631-647
- ISSN
- 0066-4227 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-3251
- OpenAlex
- W3187374982
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Microbiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protist diversity and phylogeny
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Keywords
- eukaryotic origin, eukaryotic evolution, endosymbiosis, mitochondrial origin, Alphaproteobacteria, phylogenomics, eukaryotic tree of life, host-symbiont interactions
- MeSH terms
- Eukaryotic Cells, Biological Evolution, Phylogeny, Prokaryotic Cells, Symbiosis, Eukaryota
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