8th Symposium: Debate about the Origins of Complex Cells

The origin of eukaryotes has been a subject of diverse perspectives within the academic community. Some evolutionary biologists argue that eukaryotes diverged from archaea at the base of the tree of life, while others propose a fusion between archaea and bacteria as the origin of eukaryotes. Recent studies, particularly comparative research on transcription mechanisms and genetic information transfer, suggest a closer relationship between archaea and eukaryotes compared to bacteria.However, ongoing research has led to a scholarly divide: whether eukaryotes separated from archaea at the root of the tree of life (following Worse's classical three-domains-of-life tree) or evolved from a particular lineage within archaea. While the origin of mitochondria from an α-proteobacterial ancestor is widely accepted, the evolutionary relationship between mitochondrial endosymbionts and contemporary α-proteobacteria remains unresolved. Questions persist regarding the timeline and significance of specific structures' appearance within eukaryotic cells. In the 8th specialized symposium, Baohua Chen and Yanlin Lu will discuss these unresolved issues.