Anoxic live-cell imaging shows actin-dependent crawling motility and dynamic protrusions in Asgard archaea, providing insights into cellular innovations that may have contributed to eukaryotic evoluti...

Using bioinformatics, biochemistry, NMR, as well as the newly characterized enzyme ArmA from methanogenic archaea, we revised the existing knowledge on archaeal peptidoglycan structure. At the same ti...

Archaea and bacteria routinely live side by side in microbial communities and must interact at least on occasion. Whether such cross-Domain interactions are dominated by mutual disregard, co-operation...

Cell division must be tightly regulate in time and space. Many bacteria and eukaryotes employ geometry sensing systems to regulate cell division spatiotemporally. However, how archaea ensure they divi...

Asgard archaeal mini microtubules suggest an archaeal origin of eukaryotic microtubules.

Most archaea rely on the tubulin-like protein FtsZ for division. In the last decade, several novel cell division proteins have been discovered in the model haloarchaeon Haloferax volcanii which contai...

The emergence of the eukaryotes coincided with the diversification of histone proteins and their post-translational modifications by enzymes that constitute the core of eukaryotic chromatin. Yet the e...

Archaea kill bacteria, at least on occasion. The molecular underpinnings of these lethal interactions are barely understood. Here, we describe cinquedea, an α/β hydrolase secreted by the halophilic ar...

Phylogenomic reconstruction of the proteome of the last eukaryotic common ancestor sheds light on the origin of eukaryotes, indicating an important role of horizontal transfer of genes from diverse ba...

The genomes of organisms across the tree of life are structurally and functionally organized into chromatin. In eukaryotes, within an organelle called the nucleus, chromatin is shaped by histones and ...

Nature - Integrated palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical analyses of ancient rocks from Australia show that early eukaryotes were largely restricted to oxygenated benthic habitats,...

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Schöndorf and Petrychenko et al. show that mitochondrial translation speed is coupled to OXA1L-mediated inner membrane insertion, with...

The genomes of Asgard archaea, the closest prokaryotic relatives to eukaryotes, are larger than those of other archaea and contain multiple genes seemingly acquired from bacteria. Here, Manzano-Morales and Gabaldón quantify gene duplication, loss, and transfer events in Asgard genomes, showing that gene duplications, rather than horizontal gene transfers, are the primary drivers behind the increased genome sizes.

A planetary-scale analysis of over 85,000 metagenomes establishes a framework for exploring the structure and drivers of global microbial habitats, revealing that generalist species bridge ecological boundaries to mediate gene flow across disparate habitats, including the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance.

The genomes of organisms across the tree of life are structurally and functionally organized into chromatin. In eukaryotes, within an organelle called…

Resolving the biological and geological events that led to the origin of eukaryotes is an ongoing challenge in biology. A major step in the evoluti...

Écoutez l’extrait de l’émission Les années lumière : Asgard : Potentiel chaînon manquant de la vie complexe

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 05 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01288-wThe Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of the research field focusing on these intriguing microorganisms and discusses future research directions aiming to resolve their diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 05 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02273-yA structural catalogue of the Asgard archaeal pangenome reveals hundreds of eukaryotic-like proteins that suggest a higher degree of cellular complexity in the archaeal ancestor of eukaryotes.

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 05 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01288-wThe Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of the research field focusing on these intriguing microorganisms and discusses future research directions aiming to resolve their diversity, ecology, cell biology and evolution.

The discovery of Asgard archaea about a decade ago has greatly reshaped our understanding of archaeal evolution and the origin of eukaryotes. Asgards are currently thought to be the closest prokaryoti...

The Asgard archaea have become a cornerstone of archaeal research, particularly for studies aiming to unravel the origin and early evolution of eukaryotes. This Review outlines the current state of th...