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The evolution of the nucleus
Author(s) -
Lake James A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.201.4
Subject(s) - nucleus , ribosomal rna , biology , chloroplast , rna , evolutionary biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene
Recent genomic analyses, Cox et al., (PNAS, 2008, and Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B, 2009) have reinvestigated the archaeal origins of the eukaryotes and found strong evidence that the nucleus may have evolved according to the Eocyte tree, rather than the Woeseian three domain tree (see, Zimmer, C. On the Origin of Eukaryotes, Science, 2009). This has major implications for the evolution of the eukaryotic nucleus. For example it explains how many eukaryotic information processing proteins, including ribosomal proteins L35Ae, S7e, S26e, L13e, etc., and rRNA processing molecules such as RNA polymerase Rpc34 and pre‐mRNA cleavage complex II protein, are found in the eocyte prokaryotes. Here I explore the alternative that the nucleus, in addition to the mitochondrion and chloroplast, may itself be an endosymbiont.