title: Was our ancestor a hyperthermophilic procaryote?
abstract: In this paper we critically review the 'classical' model for the emergence of the three domains (Archaea, Bacteria, Eucarya), which presents hyperthermophilic procaryotes as the ancestors of all life on this planet. We come to the conclusion that our last common ancestor is likely to have been rather a non-hyperthermophilic protoeucaryote endowed with sn-1,2 glycerol ester lipids (as in modern Bacteria and Eucarya), from which Archaea emerged by streamlining under pressure for adapting to heat, a process which involved an important molecular innovation: the advent of sn-2,3 glycerol ether lipids. The nature of the primeval bacterial lines of descent is less clear; it would appear, nevertheless, that the first extreme- and hyperthermophilic Bacteria emerged by converging mechanisms; lateral gene transfer from Archaea may have played a role in this adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology, Free University of Brussels (VUB), JM Wiame Institute for Microbiology, 1 avenue Emile Gryzon, B-1070, Brussels, Belgium. nglansdo@vub.ac.be
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Glansdorff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells; D000069497:Origin of Life; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells; D013696:Temperature