Figure 1.

The diversity of stem lengths and the palm tree of eukaryotes. (A) The different nature of the outgroups used to root the tree of eukaryotes results in distinct distances to eukaryotes. Schematic trees depicted differences in branch lengths from the last common ancestor of eukaryotes to the last common ancestor of the used prokaryotic outgroups. Branch lengths have been normalized relative to the distance from LECA to the amoebozoan Dictyostelium discoideum, as measured in Bayesian trees (CAT‐GTR + Γ4) from recent analyses 40, 43. (B) The radiation of the major groups of eukaryotes shortly after LECA and the absence of close pre‐LECA lineages can be idealized with the aspect of a palm tree, where a crown of branches stems out from a single node (LECA), which is subtended by a relative long trunk (right). The length of this stem can vary depending on the subset of proteins used to build the tree (left).