James A. Lake

University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California ~Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and Human Genetics. Redefined bilateral animal phylogeny and co-discovered the new animal phylogeny. His lab discovered the Lophotrochozoa and demonstrated that all molting animals comprise a new clade, the Ecdysozoa. Major contributor toward the use of genomics to understand evolutionary processes. Co-discovered the informational gene classes, showing that informational genes are more resistant to lateral gene transfer. Proposed the complexity hypothesis to partially explain this differential transferability and quantified the effects of environments on gene transfer. In a series of six papers, his lab provided evidence for a new root of life. Obtained evidence that the eukaryotic cell arose from the fusion of the genomes of two disparate prokaryotes, thereby forming a Ring of Life. Found first evidence for an early prokaryotic endosymbiosis between an ancient clostridium and actinobacterium, producing the double-membrane, Gram-negative prokaryotes that have profoundly altered evolution by providing endosymbionts necessary for eukaryogenesis and by generating Earth's oxygen atmosphere.~~