Endosymbiotic Theory

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Throughout history, the principle question regarding the origin of life has baffled those studying within the field of science. Although the early belief of creation from divine beings was later challenged by the theory of Darwinism, the underlying issue was still prevalent. Many theories were created to solve this matter, however they were soon dismissed by their lack of evidence supporting their ideas. Recently, more detailed electron microscopes revealed that mitochondria and chloroplast store their own DNA. With this discovery, scientists were lead to the upbringing of a new proposition: The endosymbiotic theory. In 1967, Lynn Margulis, an American biologist and evolutionary theorist, developed the idea of endosymbiosis while researching at Boston University. Despite being considered a radical due her views in a Darwinist…show more content…
The first evidence of the mitochondria is derived from eukaryotic cells found in fossils that were dated back to nearly 1.45 million years ago. During this time period, the earth's oceans were considered an highly anoxic environment and contained large concentrations of H2S- producing bacteria. This lead to the belief that Eukaryotes arose from an environment where anoxia was not unusual. Therefore, the host of the endosymbiont was an eukaryote that consisted of an anaerobic nucleus that consumed the mitochondria by phagocytosis. This would then allow the endosymbiont to detoxify oxygen benefiting the host. Although plausible, another theory regarding this issue believes that the endosymbiont was an archaebacterial prokaryote. This leads to the belief that the mitochondria were facultative anaerobe allowing them to live with or without oxygen. This would then allow the endosymbiont to produce H2 by symbiosis and provide oxygen when
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