ERC Advanced Grant · 2023
Light on our dark past: Elucidating the deep archaeal roots of eukaryotic cellular complexity
The origin of the eukaryotic cell, with its complex and compartmentalized features, represents a prime hallmark in the evolution of life on Earth. Yet, important details underpinning the emergence of cellular complexity of eukaryotic cells remain thus far unresolved. Current views support evolutionary scenarios in which the first eukaryotic evolved via a merger between an archaeal host cell and one or more bacterial endosymbionts. Recent phylogenomic work from my lab has shown that the archaeal host cell evolved from within the Asgard archaea, an archaeal clade uniquely displaying several eukaryote-like features. However, key aspects regarding the nature and biology of the archaeal host…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.