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SCIENCE

ScientistsUnveilNewTreeofLife
ByCARLZIMMER

APRIL11,2016

AteamofscientistsunveiledanewtreeoflifeonMonday,adiagram
outliningtheevolutionofalllivingthings.Theresearchersfoundthat
bacteriamakeupmostoflifesbranches.Andtheyfoundthatmuchofthat
diversityhasbeenwaitinginplainsighttobediscovered,dwellinginriver
mudandmeadowsoils.
Itisamomentousdiscoveryanentirecontinentoflifeforms,said
EugeneV.KooninoftheNationalCenterforBiotechnologyInformation,
whowasnotinvolvedinthestudy.
ThestudywaspublishedinthejournalNatureMicrobiology.
Inhis1859bookOntheOriginofSpecies,CharlesDarwin
envisionedevolutionlikeabranchingtree.ThegreatTreeofLife,hesaid,
fillswithitsdeadandbrokenbranchesthecrustoftheearth,andcovers
thesurfacewithitseverbranchingandbeautifulramifications.
Eversince,biologistshavesoughttodrawthetreeoflife.Theinvention
ofDNAsequencingrevolutionizedthatproject,becausescientistscould
findtherelationshipamongspeciesencodedintheirgenes.
Inthe1970s,CarlWoeseoftheUniversityofIllinoisandhiscolleagues
publishedthefirstuniversaltreeoflifebasedonthisapproach.They
presentedthetreeasthreegreattrunks.
Ourowntrunk,knownaseukaryotes,includesanimals,plants,fungi

andprotozoans.Asecondtrunkincludedmanyfamiliarbacterialike
Escherichiacoli.
ThethirdtrunkthatWoeseandhiscolleaguesidentifiedincluded
littleknownmicrobesthatliveinextremeplaceslikehotspringsand
oxygenfreewetlands.Woeseandhiscolleaguescalledthisthirdtrunk
Archaea.
Scientistswhowantedtoaddnewspeciestothistreeoflifehavefaced
adauntingchallenge:Theydonotknowhowtogrowthevastmajorityof
singlecelledorganismsintheirlaboratories.
Anumberofresearchershavedevelopedawaytogetaroundthat.
TheysimplypullpiecesofDNAoutoftheenvironmentandpiecethem
together.
Inrecentyears,JillianF.BanfieldoftheUniversityofCalifornia,
BerkeleyandhercolleagueshavebeengatheringDNAfrommany
environments,likeCaliforniameadowsanddeepseavents.Theyhavebeen
assemblingthegenomesofhundredsofnewmicrobialspecies.
Thescientistsweresobusyreconstructingthenewgenomesthatthey
didnotknowhowthesespeciesmightfitonthetreeoflife.Weneverreally
putthewholethingtogether,Dr.Banfieldsaid.
Recently,Dr.Banfieldandhercolleaguesdecideditwastimetoredraw
thetree.
Theyselectedmorethan3,000speciestostudy,bringingtogethera
representativesampleoflifesdiversity.Wewantedtobeas
comprehensiveaspossible,saidLauraA.Hug,anauthorofthenewstudy
andabiologistattheUniversityofWaterlooinCanada.
TheresearchersstudiedDNAfrom2,072knownspecies,alongwith
theDNAfrom1,011speciesnewlydiscoveredbyDr.Banfieldandher
colleagues.

Thescientistsneededasupercomputertoevaluateavastnumberof
possibletrees.Eventually,theyfoundonebestsupportedbytheevidence.
Itsahumblingthingtobehold.Alltheeukaryotes,fromhumansto
flowerstoamoebae,fitonaslendertwig.Thenewstudysupported
previousfindingsthateukaryotesandarchaeaarecloselyrelated.But
overshadowingthoselineagesisasprawlingmenagerieofbacteria.
Remarkably,thescientistsdidnthavetogotoextremeplacestofind
manyoftheirnewlineages.Meadowsoilisoneofthemostmicrobially
complexenvironmentsontheplanet,Dr.Hugsaid.
Anothernewfeatureofthetreeisasingle,largebranchthatsplitsoff
nearthebase.Thebacteriainthisgrouptendtobesmallinsizeandhavea
simplemetabolism.
Dr.Banfieldspeculatedthattheygottheirstartassimplelifeformsin
thefirstchaptersinthehistoryoflife.Theyhavestuckwiththatwinning
formulaeversince.
Thisismaybeanearlyevolvinggroup,Dr.Banfieldsaid.Their
advantageisjustbeingaroundforareallylongtime.
BrianP.Hedlund,amicrobiologistattheUniversityofNevada,Las
Vegaswhowasnotinvolvedinthenewstudy,saidthatoneofthemost
strikingresultsofthestudywasthatthetreeoflifewasdominatedby
speciesthatscientistshaveneverbeenabletoseeorgrowintheirlabs.
Mostoflifeishidingunderournoses,hesaid.
PatrickForterre,anevolutionarybiologistatthePasteurInstitutein
France,agreedthatbacteriaprobablymakeupmuchoflifesdiversity.But
hehadconcernsabouthowDr.Banfieldandhercolleaguebuilttheirtree.
HearguedthatgenomesassembledfromDNAfragmentscouldactuallybe
chimeras,madeupofgenesfromdifferentspecies.Itsarealproblem,he
said.
Dr.Banfieldpredictedthatthebacterialbranchesofthetreeoflifemay

notchangemuchinyearstocome.Werestartingtoseethesamethings
overandoveragain,shesaid.
Instead,Dr.Banfieldsaidsheexpectednewbranchestobediscovered
foreukaryotes,especiallyfortinyspeciessuchasmicroscopicfungi.Thats
whereIthinkthenextbigadvancemightbefound,Dr.Banfieldsaid.
Dr.Hugdisagreedthatscientistsweredonewithbacteria.Imless
convincedwerehittingaplateau,shesaid.Therearealotof
environmentsstilltosurvey.

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AversionofthisarticleappearsinprintonApril12,2016,onpageD2oftheNewYorkedition
withtheheadline:TheTiniestBeingsWritLarge.

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