A group of scientists made a large step in determining how single-cell prokaryotes and complex eukaryotes diverged from one another.
According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the journal Nature identified new microbes called Lokiarchaeota, or "Loki" for short. The researchers came up with the microbe's name from its location, a volcanic vent in the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge known as Loki's Castle.
The vent field was not discovered until 2008 and was named after Loki, a god in Norse mythology, because it was hard to find, just as legend says about its namesake.
"The puzzle of the origin of the eukaryotic cell is extremely complicated, as many pieces are still missing. We hoped that Loki would reveal a few more pieces of the puzzle, but when we obtained the first results, we couldn't believe our eyes. The data simply looked spectacular," study lead author Thijs Ettema a biologist at Uppsala University in Sweeden, said in a press release. "By studying its genome, we found that Loki represents an intermediate form in-between the simple cells of microbes, and the complex cell types of eukaryotes."
Identified as a eukaryote, Loki suggests the cell's complexity evolved early on, though Ettema said he and his team "are just getting started." The researchers plan to examine Loki more thoroughly with the use of various genomic analytic methods.
"The acquisition of mitochondria really got things started," Ettema told BBC News. "The genes we find in Loki provide some pointers.
"In Loki we also find genes that are related to those that encode actin proteins. Although we don't know what they do in Loki, we can infer that the last common ancestor had these genes."
