Nature Chemistry | The Sceptical Chymist

Endosymbiotic by nature

You might remember endosymbiotic theory from your high school or college biology classes: it’s the idea that some organelles (for example, mitochondria and chloroplasts) were originally separate prokaryotic organisms that were engulfed by eukaryotic cells. Although it’s not clear how or why this occurred, this became a mutually beneficial relationship for both cells (i.e., a symbiotic relationship), resulting in the organelle-containing cells that appear in biology textbooks (and in our bodies…) 

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