Plodding amoeba flips into free-swimming flagellate: Naegleria genome sheds light on transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes

Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 13:21 in Biology & Nature

Scientists have sequenced the genome of a weird creature that exists as an amoeba until the food runs out, then turns into a two-tailed swimmer to find new hunting grounds. The organism, Naegleria, is an early eukaryote -- a cell with a nucleus and internal organs -- and could shed light on the origin of complex cells like those in humans, according to an analysis.

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