The first animals evolved from an unknown single-celled ancestor in the Precambrian
period. Recently, the identification and characterization of the genomic and cellular traits of …

The aphelids are a small group of intracellular parasitoids of common species of eukaryotic
phytoplankton with three known genera Aphelidium, Amoeboaphelidium, and …

Sexual reproduction and clonality in eukaryotes are mostly seen as exclusive, the latter
being rather exceptional. This view might be biased by focusing almost exclusively on …

The Opisthokonta are a eukaryotic supergroup divided in two main lineages: animals and
related protistan taxa, and fungi and their allies [1, 2]. There is a great diversity of lifestyles …

The large phylogenetic distance separating eukaryotic genes and their archaeal orthologs
has prevented identification of the position of the eukaryotic root in phylogenomic studies …

Recent phylogenetic analyses position certain “orphan” protist lineages deep in the tree of
eukaryotic life, but their exact placements are poorly resolved. We conducted phylogenomic …

The evolution of metazoans from their unicellular ancestors was one of the most important
events in the history of life. However, the cellular and genetic changes that ultimately led to …

As decomposers or plant pathogens, fungi deploy invasive growth and powerful
carbohydrate active enzymes to reduce multicellular plant tissues to humus and simple …

The mitochondrial calcium uniporter is a highly selective calcium channel distributed broadly
across eukaryotes but absent in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The molecular …

Here we review the examples of great longevity and potential immortality in the earliest
animal types and contrast and compare these to humans and other higher animals. We start …