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. 2017 Dec 7:434:20-33.
doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.02.031. Epub 2017 Feb 28.

Symbiosis in eukaryotic evolution

Purificación López-García  1 , Laura Eme  2 , David Moreira  3
Affiliations

Symbiosis in eukaryotic evolution

Purificación López-García et al. J Theor Biol. .

Abstract

Fifty years ago, Lynn Margulis, inspiring in early twentieth-century ideas that put forward a symbiotic origin for some eukaryotic organelles, proposed a unified theory for the origin of the eukaryotic cell based on symbiosis as evolutionary mechanism. Margulis was profoundly aware of the importance of symbiosis in the natural microbial world and anticipated the evolutionary significance that integrated cooperative interactions might have as mechanism to increase cellular complexity. Today, we have started fully appreciating the vast extent of microbial diversity and the importance of syntrophic metabolic cooperation in natural ecosystems, especially in sediments and microbial mats. Also, not only the symbiogenetic origin of mitochondria and chloroplasts has been clearly demonstrated, but improvement in phylogenomic methods combined with recent discoveries of archaeal lineages more closely related to eukaryotes further support the symbiogenetic origin of the eukaryotic cell. Margulis left us in legacy the idea of 'eukaryogenesis by symbiogenesis'. Although this has been largely verified, when, where, and specifically how eukaryotic cells evolved are yet unclear. Here, we shortly review current knowledge about symbiotic interactions in the microbial world and their evolutionary impact, the status of eukaryogenetic models and the current challenges and perspectives ahead to reconstruct the evolutionary path to eukaryotes.

Keywords: Archaea; Eukaryogenesis; Eukaryotic origins; Mitochondria; Symbiosis; Syntrophy.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the tree of life and the origin of eukaryotes in an approximate historical framework.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of current eukaryogenetic models based on symbiosis. A, one archaeon develops endomembranes and the nucleus, acquiring the capacity of phagocytosis and the possibility to engulf the mitochondrial ancestor. B, the mitochondrial ancestor becomes an early endosymbiont in an archaeon, triggering eukaryogenesis. C, endosymbiotic origin of the nucleus (archaeon) within a bacterium; the mitochondrion results from a second endosymbiosis. D, multiple successive symbioses forge the eukaryotic cell.
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