Crown eukaryotes

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Crown eukaryotes are an artificial group of eukaryotic organisms found at the top of molecular phylogenetic trees including both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. They were originally thought to represent a late step of eukaryotic evolution (i.e. to be a crown group) because they include multicellular and macroscopic lifeforms that represent the majority of the biomass of the planet while accounting for less than 1% of the genetic diversity. However, they are in fact the result of an artificial clustering of eukaryotic organisms with slowly evolving gene sequences. They are thus not a crown group, but correspond roughly to the initial radiation of eukaryotes. All eukaryotic lineages branching below the "crown" in phylogenetic trees are misplaced because of the long branch attraction phenomenon.

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