Mitochondria Archives

Reconstruction of the ancestral LECA proteome and its metabolic features

Rethinking The Origin Of Our Cells As A Story Of Microbial Alliances

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2026June 13, 2026

All cells in animals, plants, fungi, and protists share a fundamental characteristic: they are eukaryotic cells—complex cells with specialized internal compartments. The cells that make up our bodies are no […]

Structural features of Nerearchaeum marumarumayae cell -- Current Biology

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Sample Return

From Asgard to Earth: Tiny Discoveries Hold Clues To Life’s Greatest Leap

by Keith CowingApril 10, 2026April 10, 2026

Stromatolites – and their close relatives, microbial mats – could be mistaken for what seems like a bunch of old dark rocks. But instead, they are dense, layered communities of […]

Correlations of Asgardarchaeota with other microbial lineages in DAN-LK4 microbial mats inferred by co-occurrence network analyses. a, Sankey plot showing positive correlations of Asgard archaeal orders based on normalized USCGs (RPKM) inferred by SparCC alongside their distribution across the redox gradient in the indigenous and mesocosm-maintained microbial mat. The size of boxes is proportional to the relative abundance of Asgard archaea (center) and the number of links with prokaryotic taxa (left) in co-occurrence networks. The relative abundance of the different asgardarchaeal orders is indicated by the thickness of links connecting with the different mat layers (right). -- biorxiv.org

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Sample Return, Status Report

Redox distribution Of Asgard Archaea And Co-occurring Taxa In Microbial Mats From An Early Proterozoic Ecosystem Analog

by Keith CowingApril 9, 2026April 9, 2026

Eukaryotes originated from the symbiosis of an Asgard archaeon, the alphaproteobacterial ancestor of mitochondria, and possibly additional bacterial contributions.

In December 2025, Brett Baker led a research cruise to collect microbial genomes off the coast of Uruguay. In this photo, Tyler Smith pilots a remotely operated vehicle collecting shallow coastal sediments. Credit: Brett Baker.

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Break In A Longstanding Mystery About The Origin Of Complex Life

by Keith CowingFebruary 18, 2026February 18, 2026

The most widely accepted scientific explanation for the arrival of all complex life on Earth has had an unsolved mystery at its heart. According to the theory, all plants, animals […]

Iron disruption through endosymbiosis: An overview of disruptive effects of iron throughout endosymbiosis, from ecological associations and biochemistries of archaea and bacteria (69) to LECA (90, 94). These effects may underlie a mechanistic connection between the cessation of marine iron deposition and the radiation of the earliest eukaryotes. -- biorxiv.org

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

Did Iron Suppress Eukaryote Emergence and Early Radiation?

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2026June 11, 2026

The last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) is widely thought to have been an oxygen-respiring organism, arising through endosymbiosis when a free-living bacterium became the mitochondrion.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Complex Life Developed Earlier Than Previously Thought, Nature Study Reveals

by Keith CowingDecember 3, 2025December 3, 2025

The research led by the University of Bristol was published in the scientific journal Nature 3 December, the research indicates that complex organisms evolved long before there were substantial levels […]

An integrated approach to date bacterial evolution and reconstruct the history of oxygen adaptation. We inferred a bacterial timetree by integrating genomic, fossil, and geochemical data and linking oxygen tolerance and aerobic metabolism to the GOE. Colors denote anaerobic (blue) and aerobic (red) states, whereas shades of purple show the fraction of aerobic lineages within extant bacterial phyla. Mitochondria and plastids were included to leverage the more extensive eukaryotic fossils. Land plants and animals are indicated for temporal comparison. -- Science

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Machine Learning Helps Construct An Evolutionary Timeline Of Bacteria

by Keith CowingApril 4, 2025April 4, 2025

University of Queensland scientists have helped to construct a detailed timeline for bacterial evolution, suggesting some bacteria used oxygen long before evolving the ability to produce it through photosynthesis.

In the trypanosomatid Angomonas deanei, the endosymbiont divides synchronously with the host cell. The nucleus-encoded protein ETP9 is essential for the division of the endosymbiont. Credit HHU/Anay Maurya and Eva Nowack

Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

How An Organelle Evolves

by Keith CowingMarch 20, 2025March 20, 2025

Organelles in cells were originally often independent cells, which were incorporated by host cells and lost their independence in the course of evolution. A team of biologists headed by Professor […]

Phylogenetic tree of bacteria showing the occurrence of respiratory quinones.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

A Novel Quinone Biosynthetic Pathway Illuminates The Evolution Of Aerobic Metabolism

by Keith CowingJanuary 24, 2025January 24, 2025

The dominant organisms in modern oxic ecosystems rely on respiratory quinones with high redox potential (HPQs) for electron transport in aerobic respiration and photosynthesis. The diversification of quinones, from low […]

Spores of the parasite H. salminicola swim under a microscope. Those alien "eyes" are actually stinger cells, one of the few features this organism hasn't evolved away. (Image credit: Stephen Douglas Atkinson)

Henneguya salminicola Lacks A Mitochondrial Genome And Does Not Require Oxygen

by Keith CowingJanuary 12, 2025January 11, 2025

Mitochondrial respiration is an ancient characteristic of eukaryotes. However, it was lost independently in multiple eukaryotic lineages as part of adaptations to an anaerobic lifestyle.