
Genome hybridization: A universal way for the origin and diversification of organelles as well as the origin and speciation of eukaryotes
The origin of organelles (mitochondrion, chloroplast and nucleus) remains enigmatic. The endosymbiotic hypothesis that chloroplasts, mitochondria and nuclei descend from the endosymbiotic cyanobacterium, bacterium and archaebacterium respectively is dominant yet uncompelling, while our discovery of de novo organelle biogenesis in the cyanobacterium TDX16 that had acquired the genome of its green algal host Haematococcus pluvialis disproves this hypothesis. In light of organelle biogenesis in th…