In a recent article, Nelson-Sathi et al.(NS) report that the origins of major archaeal lineages
(MAL) correspond to massive group-specific gene acquisitions via HGT from bacteria …

The mechanisms that underlie the origin of major prokaryotic groups are poorly understood.
In principle, the origin of both species and higher taxa among prokaryotes should entail …

Abstract Background Collections of Clusters of Orthologous Genes (COGs) provide
indispensable tools for comparative genomic analysis, evolutionary reconstruction and …

Background Haloarchaea, a major group of archaea, are able to metabolize sugars and to
live in oxygenated salty environments. Their physiology and lifestyle strongly contrast with …

Phylogenomic analyses of archaeal genome sequences are providing windows into the
group's evolutionary past, even though most archaeal taxa lack a conventional fossil record …

Rapid growth of genome data provides opportunities for updating microbial evolutionary
relationships, but this is challenged by the discordant evolution of individual genes. Here we …

Background The concept of a genomic core, defined as the set of genes ubiquitous in all
genomes of a monophyletic group, has become crucial in comparative and evolutionary …

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is an important force in evolution, which may lead, among
other things, to the adaptation to new environments by the import of new metabolic functions …

The origin of eukaryotes and their evolutionary relationship with the Archaea is a major
biological question and the subject of intense debate. In the context of the classical view of …

The first bacterial genome was sequenced in 1995, and the first archaeal genome in 1996.
Soon after these breakthroughs, an exponential rate of genome sequencing was …