Eddy Egan December 6, 2006Tuliszewski Period ½The Endosymbiont HypothesisHow did eukaryotes arise in today’s time? The Answer, Prokaryotes. This is whatis explained in this endosymbiontic hypothesis. The endosymbiotic hypothesis is aboutthe origin of mitochondria and plastids; organelles of eukaryotic cells. The theory statesthat organelles originated from separate prokaryotic organisms which were then broughtinto the cell as endosymbionts. Instead of being digested, the bacteria developed asymbiotic relationship with their host. This is where its name originated since it derivesfrom, symbiosis in which one organism lives enclosed within another. The majority of the bacterial genes were lost and the host used the bacteria as new components of the cells,organelles. The endosymbiotic theory was first proposed by Andreas Schimper in 1883.These assumptions were at first thrown out due to assumptions that mitochondria and plastids did not contain DNA. Later, this was proven false, brought up again, and then thetheory had been publicized true by Lynn Margulis who in 1996 said, "Life did not takeover the globe by combat, but by networking and cooperation.”After the discoveries it was proven that mitochondria developed from proteobacteria and chloroplasts from cyanobacteria. Proof of this theory includes:mitochondria and plastids consisting of some DNA that is circular in shape, doublemembranes, some of which compare to prokaryotic cells, their ribosome’s are moresimilar to bacterial than eukaryotic cells, the mitochondria and plastids only being formed by something that resembles binary fission and many other examples that have all aidedin the proving of this theory. The other organelles have less understood origins and arenot as clear as mitochondria and plastids some even say that the nucleus was an
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