currentsinbiology: New theory suggests alternate path led to rise of the eukaryotic cell &ldq

currentsinbiology:

New theory suggests alternate path led to rise of the eukaryotic cell

“The current theory is widely accepted, but I would not say it is ‘established’ since nobody seems to have seriously considered alternative explanations,” explains David Baum, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of botany and evolutionary biologist who, with his cousin, University College London cell biologist Buzz Baum, has formulated a new theory for how eukaryotic cells evolved. Known as the “inside-out” theory of eukaryotic cell evolution, the alternative view of how complex life came to be was published recently (Oct. 28, 2014) in the open access journal BMC Biology.

The inside-out theory proposed by the Baums suggests that eukaryotes evolved gradually as cell protrusions, called blebs, reached out to trap free-living mitochondria-like bacteria. Drawing energy from the trapped bacteria and using bacterial lipids—insoluble organic fatty acids—as building material, the blebs grew larger, eventually engulfing the bacteria and creating the membrane structures that form the cell’s internal compartment boundaries.

“The idea is tremendously simple,” says David Baum, who first began thinking about an alternate theory to explain the rise of the eukaryotic cell as an Oxford University undergraduate 30 years ago. “It is a radical rethinking, taking what we thought we knew (about the cell) and turning it inside-out.”

Journal reference:BMC Biology