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Two data sets: alternative explanations and interpretations
Journal article

Two data sets: alternative explanations and interpretations

Thomas Uzzell and Christina Spolsky
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, v 361(1), pp 481-499
Feb 1981
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1981.tb46540.x
PMID: 6264828
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Abstract

For those biologists interested in the evolutionary origin of the higher taxa of organisms, the origin of eukaryotic cells and their organelles is one of the most puzzling events in the history of the living world. For those biologists studying the eukaryotic organelles themselves, an understanding of the origin of the organelles is an essential complement to a description of their structure and function. Although two competing hypotheses concerning the origin of eukaryotic organelles (at least of the chloroplasts and mitochondria) have been available since 1890,*~ it is only in the last 30 years that basic data bearing on these hypotheses have begun to accumulate. One of these basic facts is our discernment of the fundamental structural differences between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. A traditional view of the origin of cellular organelles is that they arose autogenously, by small evolutionary steps, within some prokaryotic lineage. Although this view is traditional, that is not evidence for or against its correctness. The traditional view may, however, involve a rather unthinking acceptance of the idea that there has been a single origin of life, followed by subsequent divergence. Such assumptions should never remain unchallenged. A worthy challenge to this traditional view is posed by the hypothesis that eukaryotic organelles arose by endosymbiosis, a hypothesis picked up, dusted off, shaken into conformity with a lot of modern data, and stated vigorously by Lynn Margulis in her book, Origin of Eukaryotic Cells. 1r This hypothesis has been a fruitful scaffolding on which to hang much of the data on structure and function of cellular organelles and their constituents, and is consonant with much new data on the relations of prokaryotic groups. One need only read widely in several journals, or examine many of the presentations at this symposium, to see the effectiveness of this hypothesis and to realize the wide acceptance it has won.

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Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
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