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Modern cladogram of Eukarya
Several authorities recognize two larger clades, the
unikonts and the
bikonts, the unikonts deriving from an ancestral uniflagellar organism, and the bikonts deriving from an ancestral biflagellate. In this system, the opisthokonts and amoebozoans are considered unikonts, and the rest are considered bikonts. The
chromalveolates were originally thought to be two separate groups, the
chromists and the
alveolates, but the former was proved to be paraphyletic to the latter, and the two groups combined. Some small protist groups have not been related to any of these supergroups, in particular the
centrohelids.
Eukaryotes are closely related to
Archaea, at least in terms of nuclear DNA and genetic machinery, and are placed by some, along with the Archaea, in the clade
Neomura. In other respects, such as membrane composition, they're similar to
eubacteria. Three main explanations for this have been proposed:
Eukaryotes resulted from the complete fusion of two or more cells, the cytoplasm forming from a eubacterium, and the nucleus from an archaeon (alternatively a virus).
Eukaryotes developed from Archaea, and acquired their eubacterial characteristics from the proto-mitochondrion.
Eukaryotes and Archaea developed separately from a modified eubacterium.
The final hypothesis is currently the most accepted.
The origin of the endomembrane system and mitochondria are also disputed. The phagotrophic hypothesis states the membranes originated with the development of endocytosis and later specialized; mitochondria were acquired by ingestion, like plastids. The syntrophic hypothesis states that the proto-eukaryote relied on the proto-mitochondrion for food, and so ultimately grew to surround it; the membranes originate later, in part thanks to mitochondrial genes (the hydrogen hypothesis is one particular version).
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