The larger catalogue for the whole series is on the parent page, the origin of life: the literature. Working notes are in
abiogenesis/research/minimal-cell-and-luca.md.
Sources cited
| Source | What it is | Access | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weiss et al. 2016, Nat Microbiol 1:16116 | The spare LUCA: 355 protein families from 286,514 clusters. | Abstract only (paywall) | complicates |
| Gogarten 2019, Handbook of Astrobiology ch. 8.1 | LUCA came after the progenote, not as one; and a named error in the Weiss pipeline. | Author's version opened in full | complicates |
| Berkemer & McGlynn 2020, Mol Biol Evol 37:2332 | Adding homologs rejects a simple LUCA hypothesis for about 82% of the previously identified proteins. | Opened in full (CC BY) | complicates |
| Crapitto, Campbell, Harris & Goldman 2022, Ecol Evol 12:e8930 | Eight reconstructions audited; none resembles any other; consensus 366 families. | Full text and Table 1 opened (CC BY) | complicates |
| Moody et al. 2024, Nat Ecol Evol 8:1654 | The large early LUCA: 2.75 Mb, 2,657 proteins, ~4.2 Ga, with CRISPR-Cas families. | Opened in full | complicates |
| Goldman & Becerra 2024, J Mol Evol 92:659 | The commentary stating both that LUCA is "far removed from the origin of life" and that the window may be 100-200 Myr. | Opened in full (CC BY) | complicates |
| Goldman, Fournier & Kaçar 2026, Cell Genomics 6:101140 | The surviving consensus, and the two anomalies: no universal replicative DNA polymerase, no conserved phospholipid metabolism. Post-cutoff. | Opened in full | complicates |
Considered and not used
- Weiss et al.'s reply to Gogarten and Deamer, Nature Microbiology 1:16230. Paywalled past the first paragraph. The attack on the Weiss reconstruction is therefore reported in this article without the defence, and that is stated in the text.
- Moody et al.'s supplementary notes. Not read. They would say which ribosomal and synthetase components the reconstruction fails to place in LUCA, which would sharpen the gap argument in either direction.
- Woese & Fox 1977, the origin of the progenote concept. Quoted through Gogarten's account of it.
- Bell & Fournier 2026, Astrobiology 26:633. Cited inside the Moody footnote for the statement that molecular clocks remain "challenging and highly uncertain"; the paper itself was not opened.
- Yamanouchi, Moriya & Yokobori 2026, on resurrected LUCA transfer RNAs decoding at native efficiencies. Handled in the genetic code article.
- Fournier's aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase clock estimates of 3.9-4.2 Ga. Seminar abstract only, no paper. Not used.
- The eight individual reconstructions Crapitto audits. Only Weiss and Moody were opened; the rest reach this article through her table, and the article makes no claim about any of them individually.
Open questions
- Get the Weiss reply. Reporting a methodological attack without the response is a real defect, and it is the article's largest.
- Whether anyone has re-run the Crapitto audit including the 2024 reconstruction, which postdates it.
- Whether the two anomalies in the consensus, the missing universal DNA polymerase and the lipid divide, have a published resolution. Goldman and colleagues flag them; no resolution was found.