Journal
BIOESSAYS
Volume 31, Issue 7, Pages 748-757Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/bies.200900018
Keywords
eukaryotic origin; mitochondrial origin; predatory bacteria
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Accumulating data suggest that the eukaryotic cell originated from a merger of two prokaryotes, an archaeal host and a bacterial endosymbiont. However, since prokaryotes are unable to perform phagocytosis, the means by which the endosymbiont entered its host is an enigma. We suggest that a predatory or parasitic interaction between prokaryotes provides a reasonable explanation for this conundrum. According to the model presented here, the host in this interaction was an anaerobic archaeon with a periplasm-like space. The predator was a small (facultative) aerobic alpha-proteobacterium, which penetrated and replicated within the host peri-plasm, and later became the mitochondria. Plausible conditions under which this interaction took place and circumstances that may have led to the contemporary complex eukaryotic cell are discussed.
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