Anaeramoebae are a divergent lineage of eukaryotes that shed light on the transition from anaerobic mitochondria to hydrogenosomes
Courtney W. Stairs, Petr Táborský, Eric D. Salomaki, Martin Kolísko, Tomáš Pánek, Laura Eme, Miluše Hradilová, Čestmı́r Vlček, Jon Jerlström-Hultqvist, Andrew J. Roger, Ivan Čepička
Abstract
Using phylogenomic analysis, we show that these species represent a divergent, phylum-level lineage in the tree of metamonads, emerging as a sister group of the Parabasalia and reordering the deep branching order of the metamonad tree. Metabolic reconstructions of the Anaeramoeba MROs reveal many "classical" mitochondrial features previously not seen in metamonads, including a disulfide relay import system, propionate production, and amino acid metabolism. Our findings suggest that the cenancestor of Metamonada likely had MROs with more classical mitochondrial features than previously anticipated and demonstrate how discoveries of novel lineages of high taxonomic rank continue to transform our understanding of early eukaryote evolution.