IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v431y2004i7005d10.1038_nature02848.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ring of life provides evidence for a genome fusion origin of eukaryotes

Author

Listed:
  • Maria C. Rivera

    (University of California
    University of California
    University of California)

  • James A. Lake

    (University of California
    University of California
    University of California)

Abstract

Genomes hold within them the record of the evolution of life on Earth. But genome fusions and horizontal gene transfer seem to have obscured sufficiently the gene sequence record such that it is difficult to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree of life. Here we determine the general outline of the tree using complete genome data from representative prokaryotes and eukaryotes and a new genome analysis method that makes it possible to reconstruct ancient genome fusions and phylogenetic trees. Our analyses indicate that the eukaryotic genome resulted from a fusion of two diverse prokaryotic genomes, and therefore at the deepest levels linking prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the tree of life is actually a ring of life. One fusion partner branches from deep within an ancient photosynthetic clade, and the other is related to the archaeal prokaryotes. The eubacterial organism is either a proteobacterium, or a member of a larger photosynthetic clade that includes the Cyanobacteria and the Proteobacteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria C. Rivera & James A. Lake, 2004. "The ring of life provides evidence for a genome fusion origin of eukaryotes," Nature, Nature, vol. 431(7005), pages 152-155, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:431:y:2004:i:7005:d:10.1038_nature02848
    DOI: 10.1038/nature02848
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02848
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature02848?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tom A Williams & T Martin Embley & Eva Heinz, 2011. "Informational Gene Phylogenies Do Not Support a Fourth Domain of Life for Nucleocytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(6), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Lashin, Sergey A. & Matushkin, Yury G. & Suslov, Valentin V. & Kolchanov, Nikolay A., 2012. "Computer modeling of genome complexity variation trends in prokaryotic communities under varying habitat conditions," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 224(1), pages 124-129.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:431:y:2004:i:7005:d:10.1038_nature02848. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.