And you can download it for free from the Royal Society until September 24, here.
Transitional forms between the three domains of life and evolutionary implications
Emmanuel G. Reynaud1,* and Damien P. Devos2,*
The question as to the origin and relationship between the three domains of life is lodged in a phylogenetic impasse. The dominant paradigm is to see the three domains as separated. However, the recently characterized bacterial species have suggested continuity between the three domains.
Here, we review the evidence in support of this hypothesis and evaluate the implications for and against the models of the origin of the three domains of life. The existence of intermediate steps between the three domains discards the need for fusion to explain eukaryogenesis and suggests that the last universal common ancestor was complex.
We propose a scenario in which the ancestor of the current bacterial Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobiae and Chlamydiae superphylum was related to the last archaeal and eukaryotic common ancestor, thus providing a way out of the phylogenetic impasse.
If the last universal common ancestor was complex, as the researchers reasonably suggest … and how long ago was that? Then how did … ?
They got the impasse part right.
Hat tip: Pos-Darwinista
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