[HN Gopher] Two lifeforms merge in once-in-a-billion-years evolu...
___________________________________________________________________
Two lifeforms merge in once-in-a-billion-years evolutionary event
Author : awb
Score : 34 points
Date : 2024-04-20 21:46 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (newatlas.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (newatlas.com)
| personjerry wrote:
| What's more likely, it happens once in a billion years and we
| happened to catch the exact specimens doing it? Or it happens a
| lot more often and we happened to catch an instance of it, but
| it's usually not as impactful or memorable as the mentioned
| instances?
|
| Terrible sensationalist reporting.
| qup wrote:
| > Altogether, the team says this indicates UCYN-A is a full
| organelle, which is given the name of nitroplast. It appears
| that this began to evolve around 100 million years ago, which
| sounds like an incredibly long time but is a blink of an eye
| compared to mitochondria and chloroplasts.
|
| It happened 100 million year ago, not in the petri dish at the
| lab.
| colechristensen wrote:
| It really has only happened a few times in the history of life,
| at least only a few times that survived. The title could use a
| little work though.
| mkl wrote:
| This particular instance started 100 million years ago, so it's
| not a right-place-right-moment situation.
|
| There are only two known instances of symbiogenesis occurring,
| mitochondria and plastids (which includes chloroplasts), which
| justifies the once in a billion years description. Other
| instances are suspected.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiogenesis
|
| There are lots of known endosymbionts, separate organisms
| living inside the body or cells of another, a prerequisite for
| symbiogenesis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosymbiont
| temp0826 wrote:
| Maybe just bad article or I'm not fully getting it... So when
| this algae reproduces, do the offspring contain the new
| organelle? Article mentions something about dumping old DNA, but
| does it incorporate the DNA of the bacterium in the process? Not
| a biologist by any stretch
| colechristensen wrote:
| Yes. The organelle replicates with the host cell. As time goes
| on more and more of the bacterium's DNA involved in separate
| survival outside the host just goes away as it further
| specializes in its task and leaves the rest to the host cell.
|
| Chloroplasts and mitochondria had the same kind of beginning.
| kkylin wrote:
| Primary sources:
|
| [1] https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(24)00182-X.pdf
|
| [2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38603509/
|
| There's also a press release from LBL:
|
| [3] https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/17/scientists-discover-
| fi...
|
| [1] is open access.
| neglesaks wrote:
| Sounds just like when I'm having a good time with the old lady.
| dblack12705 wrote:
| You two fix nitrogen together?
| wolverine876 wrote:
| The _Cell_ paper uses the heading "Summary" rather than
| "Abstract". What gives?
| blindriver wrote:
| This is complete garbage. In order for this to be relevant, the
| mechanism for growing/splitting would magically need to be able
| to create this new entity as well when the engulfing organism
| reproduced/split. The idea that two completely separate mechanism
| of reproducing would magically just fit in together is absurd.
| mkl wrote:
| They literally show X-ray pictures of the organelle splitting
| in sync with the host cell. The mechanisms are not completely
| separate. These organisms have been evolving that process for
| 100 million years, from a more common (and long and stable)
| endosymbiont relationship. There is no magic.
| moomin wrote:
| I mean, it doesn't work exactly like that (the article
| describes it more accurately) but I consider that literally
| every cell in your body contradicts you.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-04-20 23:00 UTC)