We haven’t. But we have follow up projects that dig more specifically in the archaeal side of things!

A huge shoutout to @jvhooff.bsky.social who poured her soul into this paper, and our co-authors @eelcotromer.bsky.social and Max Raas!

If you’re into chromosome biology, genome organization, or evolutionary cell biology, give it a read and share your thoughts!
🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115855
#EvoCellBio #Genomics #SMC #LECA #Chromatin

Going deeper, duplications of SMC genes happened before eukaryotes: they trace back to the TACK + Asgard archaeal ancestor. This hints at sophisticated chromosome management in the archaeal lineage that gave rise to eukaryotes. #eukaryogenesis #archaea

Surprise: condensin II was lost independently >30 times across eukaryote evolution—making it one of the most frequently discarded cellular machineries we know. This highlights major shifts in genome organization throughout eukaryotic history.

SMC complexes (condensin I/II, cohesin, SMC5/6) are the molecular machines that fold chromosomes. By scanning >1 000 genomes we show LECA already housed all four—pointing to a remarkably sophisticated ancestral eukaryote.

Thank you, Jacob!

Because it’s done on a computer, some think it doesn’t require expertise and that anyone can do it through button pushing. Just because there are arguments doesn’t mean all arguments have equal value. And in fact, over time, many things in phylogenetics have settled even when they started hot.

Meaning what? 🫣

With @deemteam.bsky.social @andrewjroger.bsky.social and more!!

Why it matters
🎯 Helps to place DPANN firmly in the archaeal tree, tidying up a long-standing evolutionary puzzle
💡 Highlights cross-domain gene transfer as a key driver in archaeal innovation
🌱 Opens doors to explore how free‑living ancestors gave rise to symbiotic lifestyles

4/ We uncovered ancient horizontal gene transfer events from symbiotic bacteria—namely Patescibacteria and Omnitrophota—that likely empowered DPANN’s shift to their unique episymbiotic lifestyles

3/ Altiarchaeota emerge as the earliest‑diverging branch in DPANN, suggesting an origin from free‑living ancestors

2/ Key finding: DPANN forms a monophyletic clade within Euryarchaeota, resolving a long-standing debate on their evolutionary placement

1/ We used 126 conserved proteins across 11 known DPANN phyla, with careful taxon sampling and sophisticated phylogenomic analysis

Every night should be duck night Chez Gladines ! 😋

Fair enough, my initial post was hastily worded.

And yes, when at least one reviewer defeats the point of peer-review by saying teh authors shouldn’t do more work and the debate should happen in public, that’s not helping anyone.