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Cultured Asgard Archaea Shed Light on Eukaryogenesis
Purificación López-García1, David Moreira1
1Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, AgroParisTech, Orsay, France.
Cell
|April 18, 2020
Summary
The first cultured Asgard archaeon was discovered, living symbiotically with other microbes. This finding confirms Asgard archaea
Area of Science:
- Microbiology and evolutionary biology.
- Genomics and bioinformatics.
Background:
- Asgard archaea are a proposed superphylum of prokaryotes, historically known only through metagenome-assembled genomes.
- Their phylogenetic position and metabolic capabilities have been inferred but not directly studied in culture.
Purpose of the Study:
- To successfully culture an Asgard archaeon for the first time.
- To perform a full-genome analysis of the cultured archaeon.
- To investigate its metabolic interactions with other microbes.
Main Methods:
- Culturing techniques for anaerobic microorganisms.
- Metagenomic and single-cell genomic analyses.
- Metabolic pathway reconstruction and analysis.
Main Results:
- Successful isolation and cultivation of the first Asgard archaeon.
- Full-genome sequencing confirmed its identity and provided detailed genetic information.
- The archaeon was found to be in metabolic symbiosis with hydrogen-scavenging microbes.
Conclusions:
- The existence of Asgard archaea is definitively authenticated through cultivation.
- The study confirms the close phylogenetic relationship between Asgard archaea and eukaryotes.
- It provides strong support for the syntrophic origin of the eukaryotic cell from archaeal and bacterial partners.
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