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The Syntrophy Hypothesis for the Origin of Eukaryotes

  • Chapter
Symbiosis

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 4))

Concluding Remarks

The syntrophy hypothesis proposes an evolutionary pathway for the origin of eukaryotes based primarily on a symbiotic event between methanogenic archaea and facultative fermentative-sulfate reducing δ-protcobacteria (ancestral myxobacteria). The mitochondrial symbiosis is an independent event involving methane-oxidizing α-proteobacteria. An outcome of the model is that information-processing systems are of (eury)archaeotal origin, whereas metabolic, social and developmental functions are of bacterial origin. A major difference with other chimeric models that could also explain those similarities is that, for the first time a selective force for the origin of the eukaryotic nucleus is advanced: metabolic compartmentalisation. That is, the nucleus could have originated not to isolate the genetic material from the cytoplasm, as is generally believed, but to allow the coexistence of two inter-dependent metabolic pathways in the protoeukaryotic cell. The cytoskeleton and other eukaryotic properties are products of symbiotic innovation. The primary symbiosis leading to eukaryotes took place in microbial communities thriving in the widespread anaerobic environments that characterized the Archaean earth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Pierre et Maire Curie, Bâtiment A-B, 7-9 quai Saint Bernard, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    P. LóPez-García & D. Moreira

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  1. P. LóPez-García
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  2. D. Moreira
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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© 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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LóPez-García, P., Moreira, D. (2001). The Syntrophy Hypothesis for the Origin of Eukaryotes. In: Seckbach, J. (eds) Symbiosis. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48173-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48173-1_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0189-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48173-4

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