Horizontal gene flow from Eubacteria to Archaebacteria and what it means for our understanding of eukaryogenesis.

ABSTRACT: The origin of the eukaryotic cell is considered one of the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life. Current evidence strongly supports a scenario of eukaryotic origin in which two prokaryotes, an archaebacterial host and an α-proteobacterium (the free-living ancestor of the mitochondrion), entered a stable symbiotic relationship. The establishment of this relationship was associated with a process of chimerization, whereby a large number of genes from the α-proteobacterial symbiont were transferred to the host nucleus. A general framework allowing the conceptualization of eukaryogenesis from a genomic perspective has long been lacking. Recent studies suggest that the origins of several archaebacterial phyla were coincident with massive imports of eubacterial genes. Although t

SUBMITTER: Akanni WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4571575 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature