Eocyte hypothesis

The eocyte hypothesis in evolutionary biology proposes that the eukaryotes originated from a group of prokaryotes called eocytes (later classified as Thermoproteota, a group of archaea).^[1] After his team at the University of California, Los Angeles discovered eocytes in 1984,^[2] James A. Lake formulated the hypothesis as "eocyte tree" that proposed eukaryotes as part of archaea. Lake hypothesised the tree of life as having only two primary branches: prokaryotes, which include Bacteria and Archaea, and karyotes, that comprise Eukaryotes and eocytes. Parts of this early hypothesis were revived in a newer two-domain system of biological classification which named the primary domains as Archaea and Bacteria.^[3]

Lake's hypothesis was based on an analysis of the structural components of ribosomes. It was largely ignored, being overshadowed by the three-domain system which relied on more precise genetic analysis. In 1990, Carl Woese and his colleagues proposed that cellular life consists of three domains – Eucarya, Bacteria, and Archaea – based on the ribosomal RNA sequences. The three-domain concept was widely accepted in genetics, and became the presumptive classification system for high-level taxonomy, and was promulgated in many textbooks.^[4][5]

Resurgence of archaea research after the 2000s, using advanced genetic techniques, and later discoveries of new groups of archaea revived the eocyte hypothesis; consequently, the two-domain system has found wider acceptance.^[6][7]