Euglenozoa are paraphyletic if the eukaryotic root lies between glycomonads and the rest of eukaryotes. Response to ‘The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a derived feature’

2026/02/01 by Bungo Akiyoshi · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Microtubule and mitosis dynamics #Protist diversity and phylogeny #Tardigrade Biology and Ecology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1242/jcs.264522

openalex publication_date 2026/02/01 · openalex created_date 2026/02/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Summary: In response to a Correspondence by Raas et al., the author of Akiyoshi, 2025 maintains the hypothesis that glycomonads are the earliest-branching eukaryotes and that ancestral eukaryotes lacked kinetochores.

Citations

• An excavate root for the eukaryote tree of life
• Aurora B controls anaphase onset and error-free chromosome segregation in trypanosomes
• The emerging view on the origin and early evolution of eukaryotic cells
• The kinetoplastid kinetochore protein KKT23 acetyltransferase is a structural homolog of GCN5 that acetylates the histone H2A C-terminal tail
• A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry
• Hypothesis that ancestral eukaryotes sexually proliferated without kinetochores or mitosis
• Protein Structural Phylogenetics
• The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a derived feature – a critical evaluation of Akiyoshi, 2025

Discussions

• Euglenozoa are paraphyletic if the eukaryotic root lies between glycomonads and the rest of eukaryotes. Response to ‘The LECA had a conventional kinetochore and the kinetoplastid kinetochore is a deri [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]