Isolation of an archaeon at the prokaryote-eukaryote interface.

ABSTRACT: The origin of eukaryotes remains unclear^1-4. Current data suggest that eukaryotes may have emerged from an archaeal lineage known as 'Asgard' archaea^5,6. Despite the eukaryote-like genomic features that are found in these archaea, the evolutionary transition from archaea to eukaryotes remains unclear, owing to the lack of cultured representatives and corresponding physiological insights. Here we report the decade-long isolation of an Asgard archaeon related to Lokiarchaeota from deep marine sediment. The archaeon-'Candidatus Prometheoarchaeum syntrophicum' strain MK-D1-is an anaerobic, extremely slow-growing, small coccus (around 550 nm in diameter) that degrades amino acids through syntrophy. Although eukaryote-like intracellular complexes have been proposed for Asga

SUBMITTER: Imachi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7015854 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature