The Tree of Life Project Root Page 

The rooting of the Tree of Life, and the relationships of the major lineages, are controversial. On this page will appear several alternative views on the basal relationships of living things, written by various authors. 

Life 

     ,===== Eubacteria  ("True bacteria", mitochondria, and chloroplasts) 
     |
=====|||||| Archaea  (Methanogens, Halophiles, Sulfolobus, and relatives) 
     |
     `===== Eukaryotes  (Protists, Plants, Fungi, Animals, etc.) 

       ?=== Viruses

Table of Contents

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

References

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

 The "archaea tree":

     ,=============== Eubacteria
     |
     |            ,== Euryarchaeota
=====|  ,=Archaea=|
     `==|         `== Crenarchaeota-Eocytes
        |
        `============ Eukaryotes

     ,======== Eubacteria
     |
     |  ,===== Euryarchaeota
=====|  |
     `==|  ,== Crenarchaeota-Eocytes
        `==|
           `== Eukaryotes

References

Benachenhou, L. N., P. Forterre and B. Labedan. 1993. Evolution 
          of glutamate dehydrogenase genes: Evidence for two 
          paralogous protein families and unusual branching patterns 
          of the archaebacteria in the universal tree of life. 
          Journal Of Molecular Evolution 36(4): 335-346.

Cammarano, P., P. Palm, R. Creti, E. Ceccarelli, A. M. Sanangelantoni 
          and O. Tiboni. 1992. Early evolutionary relationships 
          among known life forms inferred from elongation factor 
          EF-2/EF-G sequences: Phylogenetic coherence and structure 
          of the Archaeal domain. Journal Of Molecular Evolution 
          34(5): 396-405.

Creti, R., E. Ceccarelli, M. Bocchetta, A. M. Sanangelantoni, 
          O. Tiboni, P. Palm and P. Cammarano. 1994. Evolution 
          of translational elongation factor (EF) sequences: 
          Reliability of global phylogenies inferred from EF-1-alpha(Tu) 
          and EF-2(G) proteins. Proceedings of the National Academy 
          of Sciences of the United States of America 91(8): 
          3255-3259.

Gogarten, J. P. and L. Taiz. 1992. Evolution of proton pumping 
          ATPases: Rooting the tree of life. Photosynthesis Research 
          33(2): 137-146.

Gouy, M. and W.-H. Li. 1989. Phylogenetic analysis based on rRNA 
          sequences supports the archaebacterial rather than 
          the eocyte tree. Nature 339: 145-147.

Gouy, M. and W.-H. Li. 1990. Archaebacterial or eocyte tree? 
          Nature 343: 419.

Gupta, R. S. and G. B. Golding. 1993. Evolution of HSP70 gene 
          and its implications regarding relationships between 
          archaebacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes. Journal 
          of Molecular Evolution 37(6): 573-582.

Hilario, E. and J. P. Gogarten. 1993. Horizontal transfer of 
          ATPase genes: The tree of life becomes a net of life. 
          Biosystems 31(2-3): 111-119.

Iwabe, N., K.-I. Kuma, M. Hagesawa, S. Osawa, T. Miyata.  1989. 
          Evolutionary relationship of archaebacteria, eubacteria, 
          and eukaryotes inferred from phylogenetic trees of 
          duplicated genes.  Proceedings of the Natural Academy 
          of Sciences (USA), 86:9355-9359.

Kandler, O. 1994. Cell wall biochemistry and three-domain concept 
          of life. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 16(4): 
          501-509.

Lake, J.A., E. Henderson, M. Oakes, M.W. Clark. 1984.  Eocytes: 
          a new ribosome structure indicates a kingdom with close 
          relationship to eukaryotes.  Proceedings of the Natural 
          Academy of Sciences (USA), 81:3786-3790.

Lake, J. A., M. W. Clark, E. Hendeson, S. P. Fay, M. Oakes, A. 
          Scheinman, J. P. Thornber and R. A. Mah. 1985. Eubacteria, 
          halobacteria and the origin of photosynthesis: The 
          photocytes. Proceedings of the National Academy of 
          Sciences (USA) 82(11): 3716-3720.

Lake, J. A. 1990. Archaebacterial or eocyte tree? Nature 343: 
          383-419.

Liao, D. and P. P. Dennis. 1994. Molecular phylogenies based 
          on ribosomal protein L11, L1, L10, and L12 sequences. 
          Journal of Molecular Evolution 38(4): 405-419.

Woese, C.R., O. Kandler, and M.L. Wheelis.  1990.  Towards a 
          natural system of organisms: proposal for the domains 
          Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya.  Proceedings of the 
          National Academy of Sciences (USA), 87:4576-4579.

Wolters, J. and V. A. Erdmann. 1986. Cladistic analysis of 5S 
          rRNA and 16S rRNA secondary and primary structure -- 
          the evolution of eukaryotes and their relation to Archaebacteria. 
          Jour. Molec. Evol. 24: 152-166.

About this page

 Wayne P. Maddison
E-mail: [email protected].
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 U.S.A.

 Page copyright © 1997 David R. Maddison and Wayne P. Maddison

Last saved 23 July 1997 

Title Illustration

• Fischerella (Eubacteria, Cyanobacteria). Photograph copyright © 1995, Susan M. Barns.
• Blister beetle (Eukaryotes, Coleoptera) on a composite flower (Eukaryotes, Asteraceae). Photograph copyright © 1995, David R. Maddison.