Evolutionary Biology

Research notes on evolutionary biology, covering molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and the deep history of the tree of life.

See also: Drive to Life on Wet and Icy Worlds in Planetary Science for origin-of-life theory via alkaline hydrothermal vents.

Year	Paper	Key Idea
1990	Three Domains of Life: Woese’s Phylogenetic Revolution	Established the three-domain classification (Bacteria, Archaea, Eucarya)
2024	The Nature of LUCA and Its Impact on the Early Earth System	Phylogenomic study dating LUCA to ~4.2 Ga with metabolic reconstruction

A reconstruction of LUCA within its evolutionary and ecological context

The Nature of LUCA and Its Impact on the Early Earth System

A comprehensive phylogenomic study dating LUCA to ~4.2 Ga and reconstructing it as a complex, anaerobic acetogen. The authors apply the cross-bracing molecular clock method alongside gene-tree-species-tree reconciliation to infer that LUCA possessed an early immune system and lived within a hydrogen-recycling ecosystem.

Evolutionary Biology

Electron microscope image of Pyrolobus fumarii showing irregular coccoid cell structure

Three Domains of Life: Woese's Phylogenetic Revolution

This paper established the three-domain classification system (Bacteria, Archaea, Eucarya) based on molecular evidence from ribosomal RNA sequences, arguing that the prokaryote-eukaryote dichotomy obscures the deep evolutionary divergence of Archaea from Bacteria.