Mythical origins of the actin cytoskeleton.
The origin of the eukaryotic cell is one of the greatest mysteries in modern biology. Eukaryotic-wide specific biological processes arose in the lost ancestors of eukaryotes. These distinctive features, such as the actin cytoskeleton, define what it is to be a eukaryote. Recent sequencing, characterization, and isolation of Asgard archaea have opened an intriguing window into the pre-eukaryotic cell. Firstly, sequencing of anaerobic sediments identified a group of uncultured organisms, Asgard archaea, which contain genes with homology to eukaryotic signature genes. Secondly, characterization of the products of these genes at the protein level demonstrated that Asgard archaea have related biological processes to eukaryotes. Finally, the isolation of an Asgard archaeon has produced a model organism in which the morphological consequences of the eukaryotic-like processes can be studied. Here, we consider the consequences for the Asgard actin cytoskeleton and for the evolution of a regulated actin system in the archaea-to-eukaryotic transition.
['Akıl|Caner|C|', 'Kitaoku|Yoshihito|Y|', 'Tran|Linh T|LT|', 'Liebl|David|D|', 'Choe|Han|H|', 'Muengsaen|Duangkamon|D|', 'Suginta|Wipa|W|', 'Schulte|Albert|A|', 'Robinson|Robert C|RC|']
D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton D000199:Actins D000818:Animals D001105:Archaea D019843:Archaeal Proteins D005075:Biological Evolution D056890:Eukaryota D005057:Eukaryotic Cells D006801:Humans D056186:Metagenomics D010802:Phylogeny D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
Actin cytoskeleton Asgard archaea