Ancestral State Reconstructions Trace Mitochondria But Not Phagocytosis to the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor.

ABSTRACT: Two main theories have been put forward to explain the origin of mitochondria in eukaryotes: phagotrophic engulfment (undigested food) and microbial symbiosis (physiological interactions). The two theories generate mutually exclusive predictions about the order in which mitochondria and phagocytosis arose. To discriminate the alternatives, we have employed ancestral state reconstructions (ASR) for phagocytosis as a trait, phagotrophy as a feeding habit, the presence of mitochondria, the presence of plastids, and the multinucleated organization across major eukaryotic lineages. To mitigate the bias introduced by assuming a particular eukaryotic phylogeny, we reconstructed the appearance of these traits across 1789 different rooted gene trees, each having species from opisthokonts, mycetozoa

SUBMITTER: Bremer N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9185374 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature