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Eukaryotes, Appearance and Early Evolution of

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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

Eukaryotes are the organisms belonging to the phylogenetic domain Eucarya. Eukaryotic cells are less diverse than prokaryotes (phylogenetic domains Archaea and Bacteria), but have a complex cellular architecture comprising a nucleus, a cytoskeleton (a proteinaceous network structuring the cytoplasm to facilitate intracellular traffic, endo- and exocytosis, phagocytosis, cellular division, cell membrane and wall deformation and amoeboid locomotion), an endomembrane system (a system of internal membranes subdivided into several organelles and used for synthesis, processing, packaging, and transport of macromolecules such as lipids and proteins), and organelles such as mitochondria (or derived organelles) and chloroplasts in photosynthetic eukaryotes.

Overview

Unicellular eukaryotes are called protists. They are very diverse and occur in all the supergroups of the eukaryotic tree (Burki et al. 2020). Multicellular eukaryotes include fungi, animals, algae, and plants. Models...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Early Life Traces & Evolution-Astrobiology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Emmanuelle J. Javaux

Authors
  1. Emmanuelle J. Javaux
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Correspondence to Emmanuelle J. Javaux .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  2. Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    William M. Irvine

  3. Centro Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  4. Analytical, Environmental, Geo-Chemistry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium

    Philippe Claeys

  5. Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Henderson James Cleaves

  6. Radio Astronomy, Paris Observatory, Paris, France

    Maryvonne Gerin

  7. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris-Site de Meudon, Meudon, France

    Daniel Rouan

  8. International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland

    Tilman Spohn

  9. Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques de Nantes, Centre François Viète d’Histoire des Sciences et de Techniques EA 1161, Nantes, France

    Stéphane Tirard

  10. Innovaxiom, Paris, CX, France

    Michel Viso

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Javaux, E.J. (2023). Eukaryotes, Appearance and Early Evolution of. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-65093-6_538

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