EazyBio: Educate, Elevate, Empower EazyBio: Educate, Elevate, Empower
Eukaryotes (“true nucleus”) have cells with membrane-bound nuclei containing chromosomes composed of chromatin. Constituents of eukaryotic chromatin include proteins called histones and RNA, in addition to DNA. Some nonhistone proteins are found associated with both prokaryotic DNA and eukaryotic chromosomes. Eukaryotes are generally larger than prokaryotes and contain much more DNA. Cellular division usually is by some form of mitosis. Within their cells are numerous membranous organelles, including mitochondria, in which the enzymes for oxidative metabolism are packaged. Eukaryotes include animals, fungi, plants, and numerous single-celled forms formerly called “protozoans” or “protists.” Fossil evidence suggests that single celled eukaryotes arose at least 1.5 billion years ago.
Nuclei, plastids, and mitochondria each contain genes encoding ribosomal RNA. Comparisons of the sequences of bases of these genes show that the nuclear, plastid, and mitochondrial DNAs represent distinct evolutionary lineages. Plastid and mitochondrial DNAs are closer in their evolutionary history to bacterial DNAs than to the eukaryotic nuclear DNA. Plastids are closest evolutionarily to cyanobacteria, and mitochondria are closest to another group of bacteria (purple bacteria), consistent with the symbiotic hypothesis of eukaryotic origins. Mitochondria contain the enzymes of oxidative metabolism, and plastids (a plastid with chlorophyll is a chloroplast) conduct photosynthesis. It is easy to see how a host cell able to accommodate such guests in its cytoplasm would have gained enormous evolutionary success.
The endosymbiotic theory proposes that a population ancestral to eukaryotic cells, derived from and resembling anaerobic (lacking oxidative metabolism) bacteria, evolved a nucleus and other intracellular membranes from infoldings of the cell membrane. Cells of this population acquired, by ingestion or parasitism, aerobic bacteria that avoided digestion and came to reside in the host cell’s cytoplasm. The endosymbiotic aerobic bacteria would have metabolized oxygen, which is toxic for their anaerobic host, and the anaerobic host cell would have given its aerobic residents food and physical protection. This mutually beneficial relationship would produce selection for the host cells and their residents to evolve a means of making their relationship a permanent one. Among the evolutionary outcomes of this selection would be compactness of the endosymbiont and its loss of genes redundant with those of its host (or the reverse).
Data collected to test this proposed mechanism show that its conditions are reasonable ones. Fossil data show that both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were well established by 2.5 billion years ago, and that cells containing nuclei and internal membranes first appeared at this time. Some anaerobic, nucleated forms that lack mitochondria are alive today, including the human parasite Giardia intestinalis, although these forms probably represent descendants of lineages that formerly has mitochondria and lost them rather than lineages whose ancestry never featured mitochondria. Eukaryotic cells containing mitochondria are evident approximately 1.2 billion years ago. Bacteria have been introduced experimentally into single-celled eukaryotes and propagated as a symbiotic unit for many generations. Such experiments have shown further that the host cell can become dependent upon its resident bacteria for proteins whose functions formerly were performed by the host population prior to the experimental endosymbiosis.
The first eukaryotes were undoubtedly unicellular, and many were photosynthetic autotrophs. Some of these forms lost their photosynthetic ability and became heterotrophs, feeding on eukaryotic autotrophs and prokaryotes. As cyanobacteria were cropped, their dense filamentous mats began to thin, providing space for other organisms. Carnivores appeared and fed on herbivores. Soon a balanced ecosystem of carnivores, herbivores, and primary producers appeared. By freeing space, cropping herbivores encouraged a greater diversity of producers, which in turn promoted evolution of new and more specialized croppers. An ecological pyramid developed with carnivores at the top of the food chain.
The burst of evolutionary activity that followed at the end of the Precambrian period and beginning of the Cambrian period was unprecedented. Some investigators hypothesize that the explanation for the “Cambrian explosion” lies in the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere to a critical threshold level. Larger, multicellular animals required the increased efficiency of oxidative metabolism; these pathways could not be supported under conditions of limiting oxygen concentration.
Useful External Links
- Appearance of the Eukaryotes by General zoology
- The Early Evolution of Eukaryotes: A Geological Perspective by JSTOR
- The Oldest Eukaryotic Cells by JSTOR
