The eukaryotic tree of life from a global phylogenomic perspective

Molecular phylogenetics has revolutionized our knowledge of the eukaryotic tree of life. With the advent of genomics, a new discipline of phylogenetics has emerged: phylogenom-ics. This method uses large alignments of tens to hundreds of genes to reconstruct evolution-ary histories. This approach has led to the resolution of ancient and contentious relationships, notably between the building blocks of the tree (the supergroups), and allowed to place in the tree enigmatic yet important protist lineages for understanding eukaryote evolution. Here, I discuss the pros and cons of phylogenomics and review the eukaryotic supergroups in light of earlier work that laid the foundation for the current view of the tree, including the position of the root. I conclude by presenting a picture of eukaryote evolution, summarizing the most recent progress in assembling the global tree. It is redundant to say that eukaryotes are di-verse. Plants, animals, and fungi are the char-ismatic representatives of the eukaryotic do-main of life, but this narrow view does not do justice to the eukaryotic diversity. Microscop-ic eukaryotes, often unicellular and known a