Phylogenetics

Electron microscope image of Pyrolobus fumarii showing irregular coccoid cell structure

Three Domains of Life: Woese's Phylogenetic Revolution

This paper established the three-domain classification system (Bacteria, Archaea, Eucarya) based on molecular evidence from ribosomal RNA sequences, arguing that the prokaryote-eukaryote dichotomy obscures the deep evolutionary divergence of Archaea from Bacteria.

Evolutionary Biology

A reconstruction of LUCA within its evolutionary and ecological context

The Nature of LUCA and Its Impact on the Early Earth System

A comprehensive phylogenomic study dating LUCA to ~4.2 Ga and reconstructing it as a complex, anaerobic acetogen. The authors apply the cross-bracing molecular clock method alongside gene-tree-species-tree reconciliation to infer that LUCA possessed an early immune system and lived within a hydrogen-recycling ecosystem.