Mitochondrial Evolution

The serial endosymbiosis theory is a favored model for explaining the origin of mitochondria, a defining event in the evolution of eukaryotic cells. As usually described, this theory posits that mitochondria are the direct descendants of a bacterial endosymbiont that became established at an early s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1999-03, Vol.283 (5407), p.1476-1481
Main Authors: Gray, Michael W., Burger, Gertraud, Lang, B. Franz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Archaea - genetics
Bacteria - genetics
Biological Evolution
Cellular biology
Coding
DNA, Mitochondrial - chemistry
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Eukaryotic cells
Eukaryotic Cells - physiology
Eukaryotic Cells - ultrastructure
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Fungi
Genes
Genetics
Genomes
Mitochondria
Mitochondria - genetics
Mitochondrial DNA
Models, Biological
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Reviews
RNA
Symbiosis
Transfer RNA
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Summary:The serial endosymbiosis theory is a favored model for explaining the origin of mitochondria, a defining event in the evolution of eukaryotic cells. As usually described, this theory posits that mitochondria are the direct descendants of a bacterial endosymbiont that became established at an early stage in a nucleus-containing (but amitochondriate) host cell. Gene sequence data strongly support a monophyietic origin of the mitochondrion from a eubacterial ancestor shared with a subgroup of the α-Proteobacteria. However, recent studies of unicellular eukaryotes (protists), some of them little known, have provided insights that challenge the traditional serial endosymbiosis-based view of how the eukaryotic cell and its mitochondrion came to be. These data indicate that the mitochondrion arose in a common ancestor of all extant eukaryotes and raise the possibility that this organelle originated at essentially the same time as the nuclear component of the eukaryotic cell rather than in a separate, subsequent event.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.283.5407.1476