Fig. 1

Scheme of eukaryote evolution and classification showing major eukaryotic assemblages (MEAs) displaying CPE-accumulating chlorophyll catabolism. Stars indicate accumulation of CPEs detected: yellow stars, data from two-membered co-cultures (algivory); green stars, data from unialgal cultures (chloroplast dismantling). Diamonds indicate no accumulation of CPE detected. Number in each star or diamond denotes the total number of species examined in the present study and/or previously reported (listed in Supplementary Table S2). Numbers with asterisks are data from previous reports [8, 12,13,14]. Among the nine MEAs, Archaeplastida examined in the present study consists exclusively of phototrophs, whereas Amoebozoa and Opisthokonta consist exclusively of heterotrophs. Each of the other six supergroups includes both phototrophs and algivores; thus, we examined both phototrophic and algivorous cultures across all the six MEAs