TM Embley

TL;DR: Phylogenetic analyses of RPB1 sequences strongly support the notion that Microsporidia are not early-diverging eukaryotes but instead are specifically related to Fungi, and reexamination of elongation factors EF-1alpha and EF-2 sequence data show support for an early (Archezoan) divergence of these amitochondriate protists to be weak and likely caused by artifacts in phylogenetic analyses.

TL;DR: The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify small-subunit ribosomal DNA from the anaerobic ciliated protozoon Metopus palaeformis, and from its uncultured endosymbiotic bacteria, but the present data were insufficient to resolve the detailed relationship between Blepharisma and Metopus and thus to determine if the heterotrichs are mono- or paraphyletic.

TL;DR: The results indicate a considerable potential for physiological-biochemical plasticity among a group of predominantly aerobic eucaryotes, and provide a phylogenetic framework to further refine and test hypotheses of the origins of the hydrogenosomal enzymes.

TL;DR: Results provide compelling evidence that the ancestor of T. vaginalis once contained the endosymbiont which gave rise to mitochondria, and suggest that this symbiosis probably occurred before the Trichomonas lineage diverged from the main eukaryote trunk.

TL;DR: Results are consistent with the view that PFO, an enzyme previously considered to be specific to energy metabolism in amitochondriate protists, was present in the common ancestor of contemporary eukaryotes and was retained, wholly or in part, during the evolution of oxygen-dependent and mitochondrion-bearing lineages.