Origin of Eukaryote

A Two-step scenario
- creation by an
bacteria/archaea fusion of
an amitochondrial
eukaryotic cell
then
- endosymbiosis with an proteobacterium

B Simultaneous creation of the

eukaryotic nucleus and of the
mitochondrion.
The bacterial partner is always
an -proteobactrium. The
archaeal partner varies
according to theories (here a
methanogen).

Origin of the Nucleus

Many aspects of the origin of eukaryotes (e.g., origin of nucleus
and cytoskeleton) remain unknown.

Stepwise assembly of the nucleus during evolution. After prepore (green)

formation on chromatin (blue), ER tubules attach and form a tubular network,
flatten to form membrane sheets that finally merge around the pores. These
steps are similar to the model for nuclear envelope assembly after mitosis,
showing how steps in development can directly give information about the
steps in evolution. Adapted from: FEBS Letters 582, 2004-2016 (2008).

Origin of the Cytosekeleton

eukaryotic cytoskeleton is
specifically descended from
structures in spirochetes
still lack of data to proof
this theory.
The example of eukaryotic
cytoskeleton:
Microfilament
Microtubules
Intermediate filament

Origin of Mitochondria and Plasmid

Endosymbiont theory proposes that mitochondria
and plastids were formerly small prokaryotes that
began living within larger cells
An endosymbiont is a cell that lives within a host
cell
Prokaryote ancestors to mitochondria and plastids
probably entered the host cell as undigested prey
or internal parasites

 The relationship between endosymbiont and host cells

was mutually beneficial
Anaerobic host cells benefited from endosymbionts
ability to take advantage of an increasingly aerobic world
Heterotrophic host cells benefited from the nutrients
produced by photosynthetic endosymbionts
In the process of becoming more interdependent, the
host and endosymbionts would have become a single
organism
Serial endosymbiosis supposes that mitochondria
evolved before plastids through a sequence of
endosymbiotic events

 Key evidence supporting an endosymbiotic origin of

mitochondria and plastids:
Inner membranes are similar to plasma membranes of
prokaryotes
Division is similar in these organelles and some
prokaryotes
DNA structure is similar to that of prokaryotes
These organelles transcribe and translate their own DNA
Their ribosomes are more similar to prokaryotic than
eukaryotic ribosomes

 DNA sequence analysis indicates that mitochondria arose

from an alpha proteobacterium
Eukaryotic mitochondria descended from a single common
ancestor
Plastids arose from an engulfed cyanobacterium
Some photosynthetic protists may have been engulfed to
become endosymbionts themselves
The ancestral host cell may have been an archaean or a
protoeukaryote, from a lineage related to, but diverged from,
archaeal ancestors

PART II = Evolution of Photosynthesis with Eukaryotes

Plastid Evolution:
There is now considerable evidence that much protist
diversity has its origins in endosymbiosis
Mitochondria arose first through descent from a bacterium
that was engulfed by a cell from an archaeal lineage
The plastid lineage evolved later from a photosynthetic
cyanobacterium that was engulfed
by a heterotrophic eukaryote

Cyanobacterium

Membranes
are represented
as dark lines in
the cell.

Primary
endosymbiosis

Secondary
endosymbiosis
Red alga

Dinoflagellates

Plastid

1 23
Stramenopiles
Secondary
endosymbiosis

Nucleus
Heterotrophic
One of these
eukaryote
membranes
was lost in
red and
green algal
descendants.

Secondary
endosymbiosis

Plastid

Euglenids

Green
alga
Chlorarachniophytes

2014 Pearson Education, Inc.