Endosymbiont

Definition and meaning of endosymbiont:

endosymbiont - an organism which lives within the body of another organism as part of a symbiotic relationship. The relationship may be mutualistic or commensalistic; also called an 'endobiont'

(Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) )

Also see these pages: Oceanography, Oceanography Sitemap, Coral Reef, Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change,

See also:

Endosymbiont, Endosymbiont - The endosymbiont theory and mitochondria and chloroplasts, Endosymbiont - Bacterial endosymbionts in marine oligochaetes, Endosymbiont - Bacterial endosymbionts in other marine invertebrates, Endosymbiont - Symbiodinium dinoflagellate endosymbionts in marine metazoa and protists, Endosymbiont - Bacterial obligate endosymbionts in insects

Read more here: » Endosymbiont: Encyclopedia II - Endosymbiont - The endosymbiont theory and mitochondria and chloroplasts

The endosymbiont theory explains the origins of organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts in eukaryotic cells. Lynn Margulis of the University of Massachusetts most forcefully defended the endosymbiont theory. The theory proposes that chloroplasts and mitochondria evolved from certain types of bacteria that prokaryotic cells engulfed through endophagocytosis. These cells and the bacteria trapped inside them entered an symbiotic relationship, a close association between different types of organisms over an extended time. However, more ...

See also:

Endosymbiont, Endosymbiont - The endosymbiont theory and mitochondria and chloroplasts, Endosymbiont - Bacterial endosymbionts in marine oligochaetes, Endosymbiont - Bacterial endosymbionts in other marine invertebrates, Endosymbiont - Symbiodinium dinoflagellate endosymbionts in marine metazoa and protists, Endosymbiont - Bacterial obligate endosymbionts in insects

Read more here: » Endosymbiont: Encyclopedia II - Endosymbiont - The endosymbiont theory and mitochondria and chloroplasts

Zooxanthellae are golden-brown intracellular endosymbionts of various marine animals and protozoa. They are typically dinoflagellate algae, although other algae such as diatoms can also be zooxanthellae. They are often acquired by direct ingestion, and subsequently multiply in the host's tissues, providing it with various nutrients. Their population in the host tissue is limited by controlling the amount of food and light they receive and by digestion of excess cells. There ar ...

Read more here: » Zooxanthella: Encyclopedia - Zooxanthella

In biology, evolution is the process by which populations of organisms acquire and pass on novel traits from generation to generation. Its action over large stretches of time explains the origin of new species and ultimately the vast diversity of the biological world. The living species of today are related to each other through common descent, products of evolution and speciation over billions of years. The phylogenetic tree at right represents these re ...

Including:

• Evolution - Overview of evolution
• Evolution - Evidence of evolution
• Evolution - History of evolutionary thought
• Evolution - Misconceptions of modern evolutionary biology
• Evolution - Social and religious controversies
• Evolution - Science of evolution
• Evolution - Academic disciplines
• Evolution - The Modern Synthesis
• Evolution - Heredity
• Evolution - Mechanisms of evolution
• Evolution - Speciation and extinction
• Evolution - Notes and references

Read more here: » Evolution: Encyclopedia - Evolution

Christian de Duve (born October 2, 1917) is a biochemist. De Duve was born in Thames-Ditton, Britain, as a son of Belgian emigrants. They returned to Belgium in 1920. De Duve was educated by the Jesuits at Onze-Lieve-Vrouwecollege in Antwerp, before studying at the Catholic University of Leuven, where he became professor in 1947. He specialized in subcellular biochemistry and cell biology and discovered the peroxisomes, a cell organelle. Amongst other subjects, de Duve studied the distribution of enzymes in rat liver cells using rate-zonal centrifugation. De Duve's work on cell fractionation p ...

Including:

• Christian de Duve - Bibliography

Read more here: » Christian de Duve: Encyclopedia - Christian de Duve

Verrucomicrobium Prosthecobacter Akkermansia Verrucomicrobia is a recently described phylum of bacteria. This phylum contains only a few described species (Verrucomicrobia spinosum, is an example, the phylum is named after this). The species identified have been isolated from fresh water and soil environments and human feces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive ectosymbionts of protists and ...

Read more here: » Verrucomicrobia: Encyclopedia - Verrucomicrobia

In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a complex adaptive system of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. The origin of life and the relationships between its major lineages are controversial. Two main grades may be distinguished, the prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The prokaryotes are generally considered to represent two separate domains, called the Bacteria and Archaea, which are not closer to one anothe ...

Including:

• Organism - Organizational terminology
• Organism - Viruses
• Organism - Life span

Read more here: » Organism: Encyclopedia - Organism

Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and eukaryotic algae that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy from the sun to produce the free energy stored in ATP and NADPH through a process called photosynthesis. Chloroplast - Origins. Chloroplasts are one of the forms a plastid may take, and are generally considered to have originated as endosymbiotic cyanobacteria. In this respect they are similar to mitochondria, but are found only in plants and protista. Both organelles are surr ...

Including:

• Chloroplast - Origins
• Chloroplast - Structure
• Chloroplast - Biochemistry

Read more here: » Chloroplast: Encyclopedia - Chloroplast

The taxonomy of the Cyanobacteria is currently under revision. see [1] Cyanobacteria (Greek: cyanos = blue) are a phylum of bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis. They are often referred to as blue-green algae, even though it is now known that they are not directly related to any of the other algal groups, which are all eukaryotes. Nonetheless, the description is still sometimes used to reflect their appearance and ecological role. Fossil traces of cyanobacteria are claimed to have b ...

Including:

• Cyanobacteria - Forms
• Cyanobacteria - Photosynthesis
• Cyanobacteria - Relationship to chloroplasts
• Cyanobacteria - Classification
• Cyanobacteria - Other

Read more here: » Cyanobacteria: Encyclopedia - Cyanobacteria

There are 10 families: Adelgidae - adelgids, conifer aphids Anoeciidae Aphididae Drepanosiphidae Greenideidae Hormaphididae Lachnidae Mindaridae Pemphigidae Phloeomyzidae Phylloxeridae Thelaxidae Aphids, also known as greenfly/blackfly or plant lice, are minute plant-feeding insects in the superfamily Aphidoidea in the homopterous division of the order Hemiptera. About 4,000 species ...

Including:

• Aphid - Anatomy
• Aphid - Diet
• Aphid - Reproduction
• Aphid - Evolution

Read more here: » Aphid: Encyclopedia - Aphid

The algae (singular alga) consist of several different groups of living organisms that capture light energy through photosynthesis, converting inorganic substances into simple sugars with the captured energy. Algae have been traditionally regarded as simple plants, and some are closely related to the higher plants. Others appear to represent different protist groups, alongside other organisms that are traditionally considered more animal-like (protoz ...

Including:

• Algae - Relationships among algal groups
• Algae - Prokaryotic algae
• Algae - Eukaryotic algae
• Algae - Forms of algae
• Algae - Algae and symbioses
• Algae - Uses of algae
• Algae - Algal cultivation
• Algae - Biodiesel production from algae
• Algae - Harvesting algae
• Algae - Nutritional value of algae
• Algae - Extracting oil from algae
• Algae - See Also

Read more here: » Algae: Encyclopedia - Algae

The idea that plastids were originally endosymbionts was first suggested by Konstantin Mereschkowsky in 1905, and the same idea for mitochondria was suggested by Ivan Wallin in the 1920s. These ideas were later resurrected by Henry Ris, based largely on the discovery that they contain DNA. The endosymbiotic hypothesis was popularized by Lynn Margulis. In her 1981 work Symbiosis in Cell Evolution she argued that eukaryotic cells originated as communities of interacting entities, including endosymbiotic spirochaetes that develope ...

See also:

Endosymbiotic theory, Endosymbiotic theory - History, Endosymbiotic theory - Evidence

Read more here: » Endosymbiotic theory: Encyclopedia II - Endosymbiotic theory - History

Analysis of DNA sequences suggests that horizontal gene transfer has also occurred within eukaryotes, from their chloroplast and mitochondrial genome to their nuclear genome. As stated in the endosymbiotic theory, chloroplasts and mitochondria probably originated as bacterial endosymbionts of a progenitor to the eukaryotic cell. There is also recent evidence that the adzuki bean beetle has somehow acquired genetic material f ...

See also:

Horizontal gene transfer, Horizontal gene transfer - Prokaryotes, Horizontal gene transfer - Eukaryotes, Horizontal gene transfer - Evolutionary theory

Read more here: » Horizontal gene transfer: Encyclopedia II - Horizontal gene transfer - Eukaryotes

Many, but far from all, aphids are monophaguous (i.e. feeding only on 1 species of plant). Similar to related superfamilies they passively feed on sap of phloem vessels in plants. This sap being kept under high pressure, once a phloem vessel is punctured, it is forced into the food canal. Aphids actively 'drink' (suck) from xylem vessels when thirsty. Some species of ants "farm" aphids, supplying them with leaves to eat, and eating the honeydew that the aphids secrete. Many aphids are host to an endosymbiont bacteria, Buchnera, which synthesizes the essential amino acids that are absent in t ...

See also:

Aphid, Aphid - Anatomy, Aphid - Diet, Aphid - Reproduction, Aphid - Evolution

Read more here: » Aphid: Encyclopedia II - Aphid - Diet

Biologists had long suspected that mitochondria originated from bacteria that had been incorporated as endosymbionts (that is, a living body "living together inside") of larger, eukaryotic cells. It was Lynn Margulis who, since 1967, began championing this theory, that has since been widely accepted (see "The Birth of Complex Cells", by Christian de Duve, Scientific American Vol. 274, 4, April, 1996). The most convincing evidence for this theory is the fact that mitochondria have their own D ...

See also:

Programmed cell death, Programmed cell death - Types of programmed cell death, Programmed cell death - Programmed cell death in plant tissue, Programmed cell death - PCD in pollen prevents inbreeding, Programmed cell death - Programmed cell death in slime moulds, Programmed cell death - Evolutionary origin of PCD, Programmed cell death - Sources

Read more here: » Programmed cell death: Encyclopedia II - Programmed cell death - Evolutionary origin of PCD

Evolution - Evidence of evolution. The process of evolution has left behind numerous records which reveal the history of different species. While the best-known of these are the fossils, fossils are only a small part of the overall physical record of evolution. Fossils, taken together with the comparative anatomy of present-day plants and animals, constitute the morphological record. By comparing the anatomies of both modern and extinct species, biologists can reconstruct the lineages of those species with ...

See also:

Evolution, Evolution - Overview of evolution, Evolution - Evidence of evolution, Evolution - History of evolutionary thought, Evolution - Misconceptions of modern evolutionary biology, Evolution - Social and religious controversies, Evolution - Science of evolution, Evolution - Academic disciplines, Evolution - The Modern Synthesis, Evolution - Heredity, Evolution - Mechanisms of evolution, Evolution - Speciation and extinction, Evolution - Notes and references

Read more here: » Evolution: Encyclopedia II - Evolution - Overview of evolution

Evolution - Evidence of evolution. Main article: Evidence of evolution The process of evolution has left behind numerous records which reveal the history of different species. While the best-known of these are the fossils, fossils are only a small part of the overall physical record of evolution. Fossils, taken together with the comparative anatomy of present-day plants and animals, constitute the morphological record. By comparing the anatomies of both modern and extinct species ...

See also:

Evolution, Evolution - Overview of evolution, Evolution - Evidence of evolution, Evolution - History of evolutionary thought, Evolution - Misconceptions about modern evolutionary biology, Evolution - Social and religious controversies, Evolution - Science of evolution, Evolution - Academic disciplines, Evolution - The Modern Synthesis, Evolution - Heredity, Evolution - Mechanisms of evolution, Evolution - Speciation and extinction, Evolution - Notes and references

Read more here: » Evolution: Encyclopedia II - Evolution - Overview of evolution

The word "evolution" has been used to refer both to a fact and a theory, and it is important to understand both these different meanings of evolution, and the relationship between fact and theory in science. When "evolution" is used to describe a fact, it refers to the observations that populations of one species of organism do, over time, change into new species. In this sense, evolution occurs whenever a new species of bacterium evolves that is resistant to ...

See also:

Evolution, Evolution - Overview of evolution, Evolution - Evidence of evolution, Evolution - History of evolutionary thought, Evolution - Misconceptions about modern evolutionary biology, Evolution - Social and religious controversies, Evolution - Science of evolution, Evolution - Academic disciplines, Evolution - The Modern Synthesis, Evolution - Heredity, Evolution - Mechanisms of evolution, Evolution - Speciation and extinction, Evolution - Notes and references

Read more here: » Evolution: Encyclopedia II - Evolution - Science of evolution

The word "evolution" has been used to refer both to a fact and a theory, and it is important to understand both these different meanings of evolution, and the relationship between fact and theory in science. When "evolution" is used to describe a fact, it refers to the observations that populations of one species of organism do, over time, change into new species. In this sense, evolution occurs whenever a new species of bacterium evolves that is resistant to ...

See also:

Evolution, Evolution - Overview of evolution, Evolution - Evidence of evolution, Evolution - History of evolutionary thought, Evolution - Misconceptions of modern evolutionary biology, Evolution - Social and religious controversies, Evolution - Science of evolution, Evolution - Academic disciplines, Evolution - The Modern Synthesis, Evolution - Heredity, Evolution - Mechanisms of evolution, Evolution - Speciation and extinction, Evolution - Notes and references

Read more here: » Evolution: Encyclopedia II - Evolution - Science of evolution