Decoding the genomic tree of life

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   Fig. 1.

   Early genome studies indicated that eukaryotes were a mixture of eubacterial and archaebacterial genes with an unusual distribution. The operational genes were primarily from the eubacteria, and the informational genes were from the archaebacteria.

   
   
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   Fig. 2.

   CRs provide evidence for the ring of life. The genomes are from two yeasts, Y₁ (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) and Y₂ (S. cerevisiae); a gammaproteobacterium, P_γ (Xylella fastidiosa); a bacillus, B (Staphylococcus aureus MW2); a halobacterium, H (Halobacterium sp. NRC-1); a methanococcus, M (Methanosarcina mazei Goe1); an eocyte, T (Sulfolobus tokodaii); and an archaeoglobium not shown, the conditioning genome (A. fulgidus DSM4304). Cumulative probabilities are shown at the right of each tree. Fully and partially resolved rings are Lower Left and Lower Right, respectively. [Reproduced with permission from Rivera and Lake (71) (Copyright 2004, Nature Publishing Group).]

   
   
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   Fig. 3.

   A schematic diagram of the ring of life. The eukaryotes include all eukaryotes plus the two eukaryotic root organisms, the operational and informational ancestors. Ancestors defining major prokaryotic groups are represented by branching points from the ring. Archaea (72), shown on the bottom right, includes the Euryarchaea, the Eocyta, and the informational eukaryotic ancestor. Karyota (73), shown on the upper right of the ring, includes the Eocyta and the informational eukaryotic ancestor. The upper left circle includes the Proteobacteria (72) and the operational eukaryotic ancestor. The most basal node on the left represents the photosynthetic prokaryotes and the operational eukaryotic ancestor.