page_title: Symbiogenesis
section_title: From endosymbionts to organelles
hierarchical_section_title: Symbiogenesis / From endosymbionts to organelles
context_page_description: Symbiogenesis, or endosymbiotic theory, is the leading evolutionary theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic organisms. The theory holds that mitochondria, plastids such as chloroplasts, and possibly other organelles of eukaryotic cells are descended from formerly free-living prokaryotes taken one inside the other in endosymbiosis. Mitochondria appear to be phylogenetically related to Rickettsiales proteobacteria, and chloroplasts to nitrogen-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria. The theory was first articulated in 1905 and 1910 by the Russian botanist Konstantin Mereschkowski, and advanced and substantiated with microbiological evidence by Lynn Margulis in 1967.
context_section_description: According to Keeling and Archibald, the usual way to distinguish organelles from endosymbionts is by their reduced genome sizes. As an endosymbiont evolves into an organelle, most of their genes are transferred to the host cell genome. The host cell and organelle need to develop a transport mechanism that enables the return of the protein products needed by the organelle but now manufactured by the cell. Cyanobacteria and α-proteobacteria are the most closely related free-living organisms to plastids and mitochondria respectively. Both cyanobacteria and α-proteobacteria maintain a large (>6Mb) genome encoding thousands of proteins. Plastids and mitochondria exhibit a dramatic reduction in genome size when compared with their bacterial relatives. Chloroplast genomes in photosynthetic organisms are normally 120-200kb encoding 20-200 proteins and mitochondrial genomes in humans are approximately 16kb and encode 37 genes, 13 of which are proteins. Using the example of the freshwater amoeboid, however, Paulinella chromatophora, which contains chromatophores found to be evolved from cyanobacteria, Keeling and Archibald argue that this is not the only possible criterion; another is that the host cell has assumed control of the regulation of the former endosymbiont's division, thereby synchronizing it with the cell's own division. Nowack and her colleagues performed gene sequencing on the chromatophore (1.02 Mb) and found that only 867 proteins were encoded by these photosynthetic cells. Comparisons with their closest free living cyanobacteria of the genus Synechococcus (having a genome size 3 Mb, with 3300 genes) revealed that chromatophores underwent a drastic genome shrinkage. Chromatophores contained genes that were accountable for photosynthesis but were deficient in genes that could carry out other biosynthetic functions; this observation suggests that these endosymbiotic cells are highly dependent on their hosts for their survival and growth mechanisms. Thus, these chromatophores were found to be non-functional for organelle-specific purposes when compared with mitochondria and plastids. This distinction could have promoted the early evolution of photosynthetic organelles.
  The loss of genetic autonomy, that is, the loss of many genes from endosymbionts, occurred very early in evolutionary time. Taking into account the entire original endosymbiont genome, there are three main possible fates for genes over evolutionary time. The first fate involves the loss of functionally redundant genes, in which genes that are already represented in the nucleus are eventually lost. The second fate involves the transfer of genes to the nucleus. The loss of autonomy and integration of the endosymbiont with its host can be primarily attributed to nuclear gene transfer. As organelle genomes have been greatly reduced over evolutionary time, nuclear genes have expanded and become more complex. As a result, many plastid and mitochondrial processes are driven by nuclear encoded gene products. In addition, many nuclear genes originating from endosymbionts have acquired novel functions unrelated to their organelles.
  The mechanisms of gene transfer are not fully known; however, multiple hypotheses exist to explain this phenomenon. The cDNA hypothesis involves the use of messenger RNA (mRNAs) to transport genes from organelles to the nucleus where they are converted to cDNA and incorporated into the genome. The cDNA hypothesis is based on studies of the genomes of flowering plants. Protein coding RNAs in mitochondria are spliced and edited using organelle-specific splice and editing sites. Nuclear copies of some mitochondrial genes, however, do not contain organelle-specific splice sites, suggesting a processed mRNA intermediate. The cDNA hypothesis has since been revised as edited mitochondrial cDNAs are unlikely to recombine with the nuclear genome and are more likely to recombine with their native mitochondrial genome. If the edited mitochondrial sequence recombines with the mitochondrial genome, mitochondrial splice sites would no longer exist i
caption: Modern endosymbiotic theory posits that simple life forms merged, forming cell organelles, like mitochondria.
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