Symbionts into Organelles
Symbionts into Organelles
Mitochondria, Plastids, and Their Kin
Mitochondria and plastids are the workhorses of eukaryotic metabolism. It is outrageous but indisputably true that they evolved from endosymbiotic Bacteria during the genesis of eukaryotic organization: mitochondria from alpha-proteobacteria, plastids from cyanobacteria. This chapter considers what molecular alterations were required to transform free-living bacteria into organelles. All mitochondria appear to be products of a single episode of this kind. So is the great majority of plastids, which then dispersed widely across the eukaryotic universe. The exception is the plastid of the protist Paulinella, which represents an independent and much more recent instance of endosymbiosis. Hydrogenosomes and other specialized organelles found in anaerobic eukaryotes belong to the extended mitochondrial family, and appear to be products of reductive evolution.
Keywords: endosymbiosis, mitochondria, plastids, Paulinella, hydrogenosomes
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