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Obligate endosymbiosis enables genome expansion during eukaryogenesis.
- Source :
-
Communications biology [Commun Biol] 2023 Jul 25; Vol. 6 (1), pp. 777. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 25. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- The endosymbiosis of an alpha-proteobacterium that gave rise to mitochondria was one of the key events in eukaryogenesis. One striking outcome of eukaryogenesis was a much more complex cell with a large genome. Despite the existence of many alternative hypotheses for this and other patterns potentially related to endosymbiosis, a constructive evolutionary model in which these hypotheses can be studied is still lacking. Here, we present a theoretical approach in which we focus on the consequences rather than the causes of mitochondrial endosymbiosis. Using a constructive evolutionary model of cell-cycle regulation, we find that genome expansion and genome size asymmetry arise from emergent host-symbiont cell-cycle coordination. We also find that holobionts with large host and small symbiont genomes perform best on long timescales and mimic the outcome of eukaryogenesis. By designing and studying a constructive evolutionary model of obligate endosymbiosis, we uncovered some of the forces that may drive the patterns observed in nature. Our results provide a theoretical foundation for patterns related to mitochondrial endosymbiosis, such as genome size asymmetry, and reveal evolutionary outcomes that have not been considered so far, such as cell-cycle coordination without direct communication.<br /> (© 2023. The Author(s).)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2399-3642
- Volume :
- 6
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Communications biology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 37491455
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-05153-x