New research suggests that the human immune system may trace its origins to an ancient group of microbes known as Asgard archaea. These microbes, which emerged around 2 billion years ago, have shed light on the evolution of crucial immune proteins, according to a study led by Pedro Lopes Leão from Radboud University and Brett Baker from the University of Texas at Austin.
Asgard archaea, discovered in 2015 near a hydrothermal vent in the Arctic Circle, are believed to bridge the evolutionary gap between bacteria and eukaryotes. The study, published in Nature Communications, analyzed thousands of genomes and identified similarities between immune proteins found in archaea and those in eukaryotes, such as viperins and argonautes. Viperins, which are part of the human innate immune system, and argonautes, originally found in plants, play crucial roles in combating viral infections.
The research indicates that these proteins share a common ancestry with Asgard archaea, with key features remaining unchanged over billions of years. This discovery highlights the deep evolutionary roots of our immune defenses.
