Sex and the eukaryotic cell cycle is consistent with a viral ancestry for eukaryotic nucleus

Philip John Livingstone Bell

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    39 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The origin of the eukaryotic cell cycle, including mitosis, meiosis, and sex are as yet unresolved aspects of the evolution of the eukaryotes. The wide phylogenetic distribution of both mitosis and meiosis suggest that these processes are integrally related to the origin of the earliest eukaryotic cells. According to the viral eukaryogenesis (VE) hypothesis, the eukaryotes are a composite of three phylogenetically unrelated organisms: a viral lysogen that evolved into the nucleus, an archaeal cell that evolved into the eukaryotic cytoplasm, and an alpha-proteobacterium that evolved into the mitochondria. In the extended VE hypothesis presented here, the eukaryotic cell cycle arises as a consequence of the derivation of the nucleus from a lysogenic DNA virus.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)54-63
    Number of pages10
    JournalJournal of Theoretical Biology
    Volume243
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2006

    Keywords

    • eukaryote evolution
    • nucleus
    • meiosis
    • mitosis
    • eukaryotic cell cycle
    • Viral Eukaryogenesis Theory
    • lysogeny
    • plasmid partitioning
    • origin of sex compatibility
    • virus

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