On the origin of prokaryotes

It has been a tacit assumption of evolutionary theory that the closest surviving relatives of the first cellular organisms are to be found among prokaryotes. This paper draws attention to the fact that many stages of evolution appear to have been accompanied by physical loss of superfluous DNA. It i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of theoretical biology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 243 - 251
Main Author Reanney, D.C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.1974
Subjects
Bacteria
Base Sequence
Biological Evolution
Cell Nucleus
Chromosomes
Cyanobacteria
Cytochrome c Group
DNA
Drug Resistance, Microbial
Environment
Ferredoxins
Fossils
Genetic Code
Genotype
Mutation
Phylogeny
Polynucleotides
Proteins
RNA, Transfer
Streptomycin - pharmacology
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Summary:It has been a tacit assumption of evolutionary theory that the closest surviving relatives of the first cellular organisms are to be found among prokaryotes. This paper draws attention to the fact that many stages of evolution appear to have been accompanied by physical loss of superfluous DNA. It is postulated that the genomes of prokaryotes—where almost every gene is represented by one copy only—represent the results of this process carried to its extreme. On this basis certain features of very early evolution which have been eliminated from prokaryotes may survive in eukaryotes. If correct, the hypothesis would require a careful re-evaluation of the assumptions underlying use of some sequence data to construct phylogenetic trees.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:0022-5193
1095-8541
DOI:10.1016/0022-5193(74)90194-5