title: Evolutionary cell biology: functional insight from "endless forms most beautiful".
abstract: In animal and fungal model organisms, the complexities of cell biology have been analyzed in exquisite detail and much is known about how these organisms function at the cellular level. However, the model organisms cell biologists generally use include only a tiny fraction of the true diversity of eukaryotic cellular forms. The divergent cellular processes observed in these more distant lineages are still largely unknown in the general scientific community. Despite the relative obscurity of these organisms, comparative studies of them across eukaryotic diversity have had profound implications for our understanding of fundamental cell biology in all species and have revealed the evolution and origins of previously observed cellular processes. In this Perspective, we will discuss the complexity of cell biology found across the eukaryotic tree, and three specific examples of where studies of divergent cell biology have altered our understanding of key functional aspects of mitochondria, plastids, and membrane trafficking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H7 Canada.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H7 Canada.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zerr
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Evolutionary Parasitology, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK.
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsaousis
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, École Normale Supérieure, Paris 75005, France.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Dorrell
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H7 Canada dacks@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Joel B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Dacks
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D003585:Cell Biology; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D018087:Plastids / Q000235:genetics