Eukaryotic Membranes and Cytoskeleton

Abstract

This book discusses the evolutionary origin and diversification of eukaryotic endomembranes and cytoskeleton from a cell biological and comparative genomic perspective. The main idea behind this book was to try to convince experimental cell biologists to speculate about the evolutionary origin of cell biological processes they are working on and are deeply familiar with. By doing so, I expected to gain fresh insights into the problem of eukaryote origins from scientists who know a lot about how eukaryotic cells function. To my great happiness, many cell biologists accepted the challenge and provided in-depth cell evolutionary analyses or by team- ing up with bioinformaticians carried out comparative genomic surveys. Their con- tributions, together with contributions from paleontologists and evolutionary biolo- gists, provide a diversity of viewpoints and a fresh look on many aspects ofeukaryote evolution.