Question

What is the significance of the Asgard group of Archaea to understanding the evolution of eukaryotes? What sorts of proteins are encoded by the Asgard genomes? Asgard is enriched for genes that were formally thought to be unique to eukaryotes – what kinds of functions are encoded by those genes? What does the presence of these imply about the last common ancestor of Asgard and eukaryotes?

Answer 1

The Asgard group of archae shares a large similarity with eukaryotic cellular mechanisms and proteins and as because, these processes are hallmark features of eukaryotes traceable to the LECA (last eukaryotic common ancestor), their presence within Asgard lineages is strongly supportive of the hypothesis that they have a closer affinity to eukaryotes than do other lineages within the Archaea