Journal
BIOESSAYS
Volume 43, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/bies.202000256
Keywords
endosymbiosis; eukaryogenesis; evolution of sex; meiosis; mitochondrial DNA
Categories
Funding
- ISF
- BSF
- GIF
- AICR
- ICRF
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I hypothesize that the appearance of sex facilitated the merging of endosymbiont and host genomes during early eukaryote evolution, which was vital for the evolution of genuine eukaryotes. This process required a novel mechanism, which I suggest might have been meiotic sex.
I hypothesize that the appearance of sex facilitated the merging of the endosymbiont and host genomes during early eukaryote evolution. Eukaryotes were formed by symbiosis between a bacterium that entered an archaeon, eventually giving rise to mitochondria. This entry was followed by the gradual transfer of most bacterial endosymbiont genes into the archaeal host genome. I argue that the merging of the mitochondrial genes into the host genome was vital for the evolution of genuine eukaryotes. At the time this process commenced it was unprecedented and required a novel mechanism. I suggest that this mechanism was meiotic sex, and that its appearance might have been THE crucial step that enabled the evolution of proper eukaryotes from early endosymbiont containing proto-eukaryotes. Sex might continue to be essential today for keeping genome insertions in check.
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