Chapter 4, Problem 4.10PS

The Endosymbiont Theory. The endosymbiont theory suggests that mitochondria and chloroplasts evolved from ancient bacteria that were ingested by primitive nucleated cells. Over hundreds of millions of years, the ingested bacteria lost features not essential for survival inside the host cell.

1. (a) Based on what you have learned about the membrane systems of organelles, for each of the membrane systems found in mitochondria (two systems) and chloroplasts (three systems), indicate whether it most likely arose from an ingested bacterium or from the nucleated host. Explain your reasoning.
2. (b) Describe one structure or metabolic process that aerobic bacteria might have dispensed with once they became endosymbionts in a eukaryotic cell. How would loss of this feature prevent the bacteria from living outside the host?
3. (c) Describe one structure or metabolic process that cyanobacteria might have dispensed with once they became endosymbionts in a eukaryotic cell. How would loss of this feature prevent the bacteria from living outside the host?
4. (d) Peroxisomes, unlike mitochondria or chloroplasts, scarcely resemble free-living organisms, yet biologists have suggested that peroxisomes may also have arisen via endosymbiosis. Assuming peroxisomes evolved from ingested bacteria, describe three features mitochondria retain but peroxisomes apparently lost over hundreds of millions of years. Describe one advantage peroxisomes might have conferred on ancient nucleated cells.