• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, September 27, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Ancestors of legionella bacteria infected cells two billion years ago

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 15, 2022
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Lionel Guy, associate professor, Uppsala University
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered that the ancestors of legionella bacteria infected eukaryotic cells as early as two billion years ago. It happened soon after eukaryotes began to feed on bacteria. These results, described in a new study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, also contributes to the chicken-or-egg debate about whether mitochondria or phagocytosis came first.

Lionel Guy, associate professor, Uppsala University

Credit: Sanna Dovat Guy

Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered that the ancestors of legionella bacteria infected eukaryotic cells as early as two billion years ago. It happened soon after eukaryotes began to feed on bacteria. These results, described in a new study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, also contributes to the chicken-or-egg debate about whether mitochondria or phagocytosis came first.

“Our study can help us understand how harmful bacteria arise and how complex cells evolved from simpler cells,” says Lionel Guy, associate professor of evolutionary microbiology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, who headed the study.

Two billion years ago, ancestors of legionella bacteria already had the ability to avoid being digested by eukaryotes. Instead, they began using eukaryotic cells – complex cells with a nucleus that make up amoebas, fungi and human beings – to multiply.

The legionella bacterium, which causes Legionnaires’ disease, belongs to a large group of bacteria called Legionellales. All Legionellales bacteria can infect eukaryotic hosts: amoebas, insects or our own cells.

“We discovered that the ancestor of the whole group lived about two billion years ago, at a time when eukaryotes were still in the making, evolving from simpler cells to the complex cell structure they have now,” says Andrei Guliaev, a researcher at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology. “We believe Legionellales were among the first to infect eukaryotic cells.”

The first step in an infection with legionella bacteria is for a eukaryotic host, such as an amoeba, to bring the bacterium into its cell through a process called phagocytosis. The next step for the amoeba would be to digest the bacterium and use its parts as an energy source. But legionella bacteria have molecular tools that keep them from being digested and allow them to instead use the amoeba as an energy source so they can multiply.

In the study, the researchers show that all Legionellales have the same kind of molecular tools as legionella. That suggests that the ability to infect eukaryotes already existed in the ancestor of all Legionellales. This means that phagocytosis is at least as old as Legionellales – two billion years old – when eukaryotes were in the early stages of their evolution.

Which has implications for a hot chicken-or-egg debate in evolutionary biology about how eukaryotes came into being. Which came first? Was it the mitochondria, which originated from another group of bacteria and became our cells’ own energy factories? Or was it phagocytosis, which is considered necessary to absorb mitochondria but is very costly from an energy standpoint?

“Some researchers believe that mitochondria were required to deliver enough energy for phagocytosis to work. But our results suggest that phagocytosis came first – two billion years ago – while mitochondria came later,” says Lionel Guy.

Article: Eric Hugoson, Andrei Guliaev, Tea Ammunét, and Lionel Guy; Host-adaptation in Legionellales is 1.9 Ga, coincident with eukaryogenesis. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2022,  DOI: 10.1093; 10.1093/molbev/msac037

Further information:
Lionel Guy, associate professor of evolutionary microbiology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University and Scilifelab, +46-73-976 0618, [email protected]

 



Journal

Molecular Biology and Evolution

DOI

10.1093/molbev/msac037

Article Title

Host-adaptation in Legionellales is 1.9 Ga, coincident with eukaryogenesis

Article Publication Date

15-Feb-2022

Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Identifying Key Genes for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus

Identifying Key Genes for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus

September 27, 2025
blank

Reducing Harmful Compounds in Air-Fried Meat

September 27, 2025

BoRR Gene Family: Key to Cauliflower Growth and Salt Resilience

September 27, 2025

Revolutionizing Metagenomics with Oxford Nanopore Sequencing

September 27, 2025

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    72 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • Tailored Gene-Editing Technology Emerges as a Promising Treatment for Fatal Pediatric Diseases

    51 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Identifying Key Genes for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus

Manifold Design Enhances Coolant Flow in Fuel Cells

Staff Version of Person-Centred Climate Questionnaire Evaluated

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.