12 ms·
No, even then, the constituent parts (organelles) of single-celled organism likely began as a symbiosis of separate organisms. The history of life is more compl
by jcromartie 11y ago
No, even then, the constituent parts (organelles) of single-celled organism likely began as a symbiosis of separate organisms. The history of life is more complex and fantastic than we can possibly imagine.
- rtl49 11y agoThis isn't true. Prokaryotes do not have membrane-bound organelles resulting from an ancestral symbiotic relationship. (You might be able to found some weird exception to the rule out here. This is a generalization -- nothing in biology shocks me anymore.) Even for unicellular eukaryotes, it would be incorrect to claim they're separate organisms from their membrane-bound organelles just because of the organelle's evolutionary origin. Unicellular organisms really are "unitary." Edit: A biologist should always be humble. I just thinking of lichens, which are "composite organisms" consisting of fungi, bacteria, and algae, which can be an instance of what you're getting at. Still, some organisms really are "unitary."