Claudio Slamovits
Author's posts
Mar 15
Discovery of an expanded set of avian leucosis subgroup E proviruses in chickens using Vermillion, a novel sequence capture and analysis pipeline.
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Mar 15
The carboxy terminus of YCF1 contains a motif conserved throughout >500 million years of streptophyte evolution.
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Mar 15
Endosymbiosis: Did Plastids Evolve from a Freshwater Cyanobacterium?
Photosynthetic eukaryotes are the product of an endosymbiotic event between a eukaryotic host and a cyanobacterium that became today’s plastid. A new phylogenomic study suggests that the closest relative of plastids among extant cyanobacteria is the recently discovered freshwater-dwelling Gloeomargarita lithophora. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mar 15
Darwinizing Gaia.
The Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock was co-developed with and vigorously promoted by Lynn Margulis, but most mainstream Darwinists scorned and still do not accept the notion. They cannot imagine selection for global stability being realized at the level of the individuals or species that make up the biosphere. Here I suggest that we look …
Mar 15
Lateral Gene Transfer in the Adaptation of the Anaerobic Parasite Blastocystis to the Gut.
Blastocystis spp. are the most prevalent eukaryotic microbes found in the intestinal tract of humans. Here we present an in-depth investigation of lateral gene transfer (LGT) in the genome of Blastocystis sp. subtype 1. Using rigorous phylogeny-based methods and strict validation criteria, we show that ∼2.5% of the genes of this organism were recently acquired …
Jan 15
The Origin of Mitochondrial Cristae from Alphaproteobacteria
Mitochondria are the respiratory organelles of eukaryotes and their evolutionary history is deeply intertwined with that of eukaryotes. The compartmentalization of respiration in mitochondria occurs within cristae, whose evolutionary origin has remained unclear. Recent discoveries, however, have revived the old notion that mitochondrial cristae could have had a pre-endosymbiotic origin. Mitochondrial cristae are likely homologous to the intracytoplasmic membranes (ICMs) used by diverse…
Jan 15
The Origin of Mitochondrial Cristae from Alphaproteobacteria
Mitochondria are the respiratory organelles of eukaryotes and their evolutionary history is deeply intertwined with that of eukaryotes. The compartmentalization of respiration in mitochondria occurs within cristae, whose evolutionary origin has remained unclear. Recent discoveries, however, have revived the old notion that mitochondrial cristae could have had a pre-endosymbiotic origin. Mitochondrial cristae are likely homologous to the intracytoplasmic membranes (ICMs) used by diverse…
Jan 12
Gregarine infection accelerates larval development of the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché)
A high degree of specialization between host and parasite is a well-known outcome of a long history of coevolution, and it is strikingly illustrated in a coordination of their life cycles. In some cases, the arms race ensued at the establishment of a symbiotic relationship results in the adoption of manipulative strategies by the parasite. We have already learned that Steinina ctenocephali, a gregarine living in the alimentary canal of cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis follows its phenology and…
Apr 12
The evolution of MICOS: Ancestral and derived functions and interactions
The MItochondrial Contact Site and Cristae Organizing System (MICOS) is required for the biogenesis and maintenance of mitochondrial cristae as well as the proper tethering of the mitochondrial inner and outer membranes. We recently demonstrated that the core components of MICOS, Mic10 and Mic60, are near-ubiquitous eukaryotic features inferred to have been present in the last eukaryote common ancestor. We also showed that Mic60 could be traced to α-proteobacteria, which suggests that…
Dec 19
Evolutionary Origins of Rhizarian Parasites
The SAR group (Stramenopila, Alveolata, Rhizaria) is one of the largest clades in the tree of eukaryotes and includes a great number of parasitic lineages. Rhizarian parasites are obligate and have devastating effects on commercially important plants and animals but despite this fact, our knowledge of their biology and evolution is limited. Here, we present rhizarian transcriptomes from all major parasitic lineages in order to elucidate their evolutionary relationships using a phylogenomic…