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Perspective | Open Access

The expanding Asgard archaea and their elusive relationships with Eukarya

Violette Da Cunha1,, Morgan Gaïa2, Patrick Forterre1,3( )
CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Génomique Métabolique, Génoscope, Institut François Jacob, CEA, CNRS, Univ. Evry, Université Paris-Saclay, Evry, France
Département de Microbiologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

Edited by Wen-Jun Li, Sun Yat-Sen University, China

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Abstract

The discovery of Asgard archaea and the exploration of their diversity over the last 6 years have deeply impacted the scientific community working on eukaryogenesis, rejuvenating an intense debate on the topology of the universal tree of life (uTol). Here, we discuss how this debate is impacted by two recent publications that expand the number of Asgard lineages and eukaryotic signature proteins (ESPs). We discuss some of the main difficulties that can impair the phylogenetic reconstructions of the uTol and suggest that the debate about its topology is not settled. We notably hypothesize the existence of horizontal gene transfers between ancestral Asgards and proto-eukaryotes that could result in the observed abnormal behaviors of some Asgard ESPs and universal marker proteins. This hypothesis is relevant regardless of the scenario considered regarding eukaryogenesis. It implies that the Asgards were already diversified before the last eukaryotic common ancestor and shared the same biotopes with proto-eukaryotes. We suggest that some Asgards might be still living in symbiosis today with modern Eukarya.

Keywords

horizontal gene transferAsgardmolecular phylogenytree of life

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mLife
Volume 1 Issue 1,
March 2022
Pages 3-12
DOI: 10.1002/mlf2.12012
Cite this article:
Da Cunha V, Gaïa M, Forterre P. The expanding Asgard archaea and their elusive relationships with Eukarya. mLife, 2022, 1(1): 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/mlf2.12012

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Received: 30 December 2021
Accepted: 10 February 2022
Published: 24 March 2022
© 2022 The Authors. mLife published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. on behalf of Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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