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In an unprecedented event that has occurred only twice in Earth’s history, two life forms have merged to form a single organism through primary endosymbiosis. This rare occurrence was recently observed by an international team of scientists who studied the evolutionary phenomenon between a species of algae and a bacterium.
Tyler Coale, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, led the research that uncovered this unique event. He explained how previous instances of primary endosymbiosis have led to the diversity of life we see today. The algae engulfs the bacterium, providing nutrients and protection in exchange for new functions like nitrogen fixation. This symbiotic relationship results in the bacterium becoming an organelle within the algae, vital for its survival.
The scientists involved in the research, from institutions like MIT, UC Santa Cruz, and Kochi University in Japan, published their findings in esteemed scientific journals. This discovery not only sheds light on evolution but also has the potential to revolutionize agriculture by engineering similar organelles into crop plants.
