Endosymbiosis

Endosymbiosis is a lasting association in which one organism lives inside another. In some cases, an endosymbiont becomes an organelle of its host.

Mitochondrial endosymbiosis: The evolutionary incorporation of an alphaproteobacterium into an ancestral eukaryotic cell, giving rise to mitochondria. It is the clearest example of an endosymbiont becoming an organelle.
Lynn Margulis: An American biologist who advanced the modern theory that eukaryotic organelles originated through symbiosis. Her work helped establish endosymbiotic explanations for organelle origins.
Symbiosis: A close, long-term association between organisms of different species. Endosymbiosis is a form of symbiosis defined by one partner living inside another.
Wolbachia: A genus of bacteria that infects many arthropods and some nematodes, often through reproductive tissues. Its widespread infections show how endosymbionts can alter host reproduction.
Primary endosymbiosis: The origin of an organelle when a eukaryotic cell incorporates a prokaryote, as in the origin of plastids. It describes the initial incorporation that produced plastids from cyanobacteria.
Mitochondrial genome: The DNA genome found in mitochondria, usually much smaller than the genome of free-living bacteria. Its retained genes provide evidence of mitochondria's bacterial ancestry.
Host–parasite interaction: An interaction in which a parasite lives on or in a host and gains resources at the host's expense. It contrasts mutually beneficial partnerships with harmful intracellular associations.
Buchnera aphidicola: A bacterial endosymbiont of aphids that supplies essential amino acids missing from their diet. It illustrates how a resident bacterium can provide nutrients the host cannot make.
Secondary endosymbiosis: The origin of a complex plastid when a eukaryote incorporates a photosynthetic eukaryotic alga. It shows how endosymbiotic partnerships can be nested across multiple cell lineages.
Chloroplast genome: The DNA genome found in chloroplasts and related plastids, encoding a subset of their proteins. Its genes preserve evidence of plastid descent from photosynthetic bacteria.

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