What seems to be the missing link in the evolution of complex cells has been discovered by a team of researchers. The study has been published in the journal Nature on Wednesday where researchers said that this new discovery will help them to grasp the way billions of years ago complex cell types, including plants, fungi, animal and humans have evolved from simple microbes.
So far scientists have been quite perplexed with the origin of complex cell types which is known as “eukaryotes” collectively. The scientists have discovered a new group of microorganisms called Lokiarchaeota or “Loki,” the shortened form which is able to solve the mysteries about the evolutionary transition from simple to complex cells.
The lead author of the study, Thijs Ettema, a microbiologist at Upssala University in Sweden, said in a statement “The puzzle of the origin of the eukaryotic cell is extremely complicated, as many pieces are still missing. We hoped that Loki would reveal a few more pieces of the puzzle, but when we obtained the first results, we couldn’t believe our eyes. The data simply looked spectacular.”
The Loki’s genome has been studied by researchers only to find that the microorganism represented an intermediate form between simple cells of microbes and complex cell types of eukaryotes. When the researchers placed the Loki in the “Tree of Life,” it formed a well-supported group with the eukaryotes in their analysis.
One of the co-authors of the study and a researcher at the Uppsala University, Anja Spang said in a statement “In addition, we found that Loki shares many genes uniquely with eukaryotes, suggesting that cellular complexity emerged in an early stage in the evolution of eukaryotes.”
The derivation of the term Lokiarchaeota is from “Loki Castle,” a field of hydrothermal vents where the microorganism had been found, located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Greenland and Norway at a depth approximately 7,717 feet.
The hydrothermal vents are volcanic systems located at the ocean floor, as researchers stated and even though the site where Loki had been found had been heavily influenced by volcanic activity, it is quite low in temperature.
“In a way, we are just getting started. There is still a lot out there to discover … to revise our biology textbooks more often in the near future,” Ettema said.