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Related Experiment Videos

Early branching eukaryotes?

T M Embley1, R P Hirt

  • 1Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. tme@nhm.ac.uk

Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
|January 23, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Recent studies suggest early-branching eukaryotes like Giardia and Trichomonas may possess mitochondrial genes, challenging their primitive amitochondriate status. Microsporidia appear related to Fungi, not deep-branching as previously thought.

Area of Science:

  • Eukaryotic evolution
  • Molecular phylogenetics
  • Microbial genomics

Background:

  • Phylogenetic analyses traditionally considered certain eukaryotes, including Giardia, Trichomonas, and Microsporidia, as primitively amitochondriate.
  • Previous interpretations of SSUrRNA gene trees placed Microsporidia as deep-branching organisms.
  • The evolutionary placement of these early-branching eukaryotes has been a subject of ongoing debate.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the phylogenetic positions of Giardia, Trichomonas, and Microsporidia using updated analyses.
  • To investigate the presence of mitochondrial genes in these organisms.
  • To clarify the relationships between Microsporidia and other eukaryotic lineages, particularly Fungi.

Main Methods:

  • Phylogenetic analyses utilizing multiple data sets, including genes of mitochondrial origin.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Comparison of gene trees derived from different molecular data.
  • Critical re-analysis of existing and new phylogenetic data.

    • Main Results:

    • Phylogenetic analyses indicate that Giardia, Trichomonas, and Microsporidia possess genes of mitochondrial origin, suggesting they are not primitively amitochondriate.
    • Multiple data sets support a relationship between Microsporidia and Fungi, contradicting deep-branching placements based solely on SSUrRNA.
    • Consistent support for the branching order of Giardia and Trichitonas before other eukaryotes is lacking across different gene analyses.

    Conclusions:

    • The primitive amitochondriate status of Giardia, Trichomonas, and Microsporidia is questionable.
    • Microsporidia are likely related to Fungi, revising their position in the eukaryotic tree.
    • Determining the precise order of early eukaryotic emergence requires robust phylogenetic hypotheses based on congruent evidence from independent data sets.