Phylogenomic analyses of the Asgard archaea—a group of uncultivated microbes discovered near deep-sea hydrothermal vents—have transformed evolutionary models of eukaryogenesis (the emergence of complex eukaryotic cells). Asgard genomes encode numerous “eukaryotic signature proteins” (ESPs) involved in membrane trafficking, ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, and cytoskeletal dynamics, functions previously thought to be exclusive to eukaryotes. Evolutionary biologist Dr. Thijs Ettema argues that these genomic discoveries support the “two-domain” tree of life, in which eukaryotes did not branch off as an independent third lineage alongside Archaea and Bacteria, but rather
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easyWhich choice most logically completes the text?
A
evolved from an ancient bacterium that lacked any cytoskeletal or membrane-trafficking proteins.
B
originated directly from within the archaeal domain through an endosymbiotic merger between an Asgard-related archaeon and an alphaproteobacterium.
C
represent the ancestral lineage from which all primitive archaeal and bacterial clades subsequently descended.
D
developed their eukaryotic signature proteins through entirely abiotic geochemical reactions occurring in hydrothermal vents.