It is best considered a member of a previously undescribed, entirely extinct group of eukaryotes,” the team wrote in the study paper. This challenges our understanding of the tree of life itself.

The question of where exactly eukaryotes branch on the tree of life has been debated by scientists for decades. But the discovery of the Asgard archaea—the closest prokaryotic relatives to modern ...

The scientists conclude that Prototaxites likely belonged to “a previously undescribed, entirely extinct group of eukaryotes.” In the grand tree of life, that’s a big claim. Eukaryotes ...

A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego is making it easier for researchers from a broad range of ...

Eukaryogenesis occurred suddenly, driven by the growing length of genes and the limitations on producing longer proteins. An ...

These functional types do not correspond to natural groups, because they occur in an interleaved manner across the tree of eukaryotic life. Instead they correspond to ecological specializations.

A eukaryote is any cell or organism that possesses a clearly defined nucleus. Eukaryotic cells form the foundation of complex, multicellular life, including apple trees, mushrooms, fish and humans.

F. Archaea and the prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 61, 456–502 (1997) Doolittle, W. F. & Bapteste, E. Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life ...