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Stairs CW, Dharamshi JE, Tamarit D, Eme L, Jørgensen SL, Spang A, Ettema TJG. Chlamydial contribution to anaerobic metabolism during eukaryotic evolution. Sci Adv 2020; 6:eabb7258. [PMID: 32923644 PMCID: PMC7449678 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abb7258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The origin of eukaryotes is a major open question in evolutionary biology. Multiple hypotheses posit that eukaryotes likely evolved from a syntrophic relationship between an archaeon and an alphaproteobacterium based on H2 exchange. However, there are no strong indications that modern eukaryotic H2 metabolism originated from archaea or alphaproteobacteria. Here, we present evidence for the origin of H2 metabolism genes in eukaryotes from an ancestor of the Anoxychlamydiales-a group of anaerobic chlamydiae, newly described here, from marine sediments. Among Chlamydiae, these bacteria uniquely encode genes for H2 metabolism and other anaerobiosis-associated pathways. Phylogenetic analyses of several components of H2 metabolism reveal that Anoxychlamydiales homologs are the closest relatives to eukaryotic sequences. We propose that an ancestor of the Anoxychlamydiales contributed these key genes during the evolution of eukaryotes, supporting a mosaic evolutionary origin of eukaryotic metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Courtney W. Stairs
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Jennah E. Dharamshi
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Daniel Tamarit
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, 6708 WE Wageningen, Netherlands
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Laura Eme
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
- Unité d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
| | - Steffen L. Jørgensen
- Department of Earth Science, Centre for Deep Sea Research, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
| | - Anja Spang
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and Utrecht University, NL-1790 AB Den Burg, Netherlands
| | - Thijs J. G. Ettema
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-75123 Uppsala, Sweden
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences, Wageningen University, 6708 WE Wageningen, Netherlands
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