title: The nature of the last universal common ancestor.
abstract: Cytologically, prokaryotes appear simpler and thus evolutionarily 'older' than eukaryotes. In terms of RNA processing, however, prokaryotes are sophisticated and eukaryotes, which retain many features of an RNA-world, appear primitive. The last universal common ancestor may have been mesophilic and could have had many features of the eukaryote genome, but its cytology is unknown.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University, PO Box 11 222, New Zealand. D.Penny@massey.ac.nz
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penny
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poole
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D016678:Genome; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D012313:RNA