Phylogenetics

This foundational paper established the three-domain classification system that transformed our understanding of evolutionary relationships, identifying Archaea as a separate domain of life based on molecular evidence from ribosomal RNA sequences.

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