Concepts of the last eukaryotic common ancestor
Insight into the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) is central to any phylogeny-based reconstruction of early eukaryotic evolution. Increasing amounts of data enable such reconstructions, without necessarily providing further insight into what LECA actually was. We consider four possible concepts of LECA: an abstract phylogenetic state, a single cell, a population, and a consortium of organisms. We argue that the view most realistically underlying work in the field is that of LECA as a population. Drawing on recent findings of genomically heterogeneous populations in eukaryotes (‘pangenomes’), we examine the evolutionary implications of a pangenomic LECA population. For instance, how does this concept affect standard expectations about the ecology, geography, fitness, and diversification of LECA? Does it affect evolutionary interpretations of LECA’s cellular functions? Finally, we examine whether this novel pangenomic concept of LECA has implications for phylogenetic reconstructions of early eukaryote evolution. Our aim is to add to the conceptual toolkit for developing theories of LECA and interpreting genomic datasets.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | artículo biblioteca |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2019-02-18
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| Subjects: | Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor, LECA, Eukaryote origins, Eukaryote evolution, Eukaryote phylogeny, Eukaryotic pangenomes, |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/201794 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003106 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001665 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000781 |
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