Fig. 4: ATP synthase evolutionary scenarios.
From: ATP synthase evolution on a cross-braced dated tree of life
A Overview of possible ancestral ATP synthase acquisition in LECA from the putative prokaryotic hosts; the A/V-type derived from the archaeal host, and F-type ATP synthases derived from bacterial endosymbionts. B Evolutionary proposal supporting an F-type-like ancestral ATP synthase present pre-LUCA with subsequent divergence consistent with the split between Bacteria and Archaea and early transfers of A/V-type ATP synthases into the bacterial stem, and late HGT of F-type ATP synthases to Archaea. C Evolutionary proposal supporting an F-type-like ancestral ATP synthase and pre-LUCA duplication and divergence of at least the head components of the F- and A/V-type subunits with subsequent loss of the F-type components along the archaeal stem. The cartoon of the ATP synthase was drawn manually in Adobe illustrator.
