Tiniest DNA known (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, July 02, 2013, 17:40 (4163 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: A symbiont bacteria in a bug:-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tiny-genomes-may-offer-clues-to-first-...-Thank you for this, David. A few interesting quotes:
 
"Symbiotic bacteria that dwell within insect cells are intricately intertwined with their hosts, prompting scientists to question when these bacteria stop being bona fide organisms and become part of the cell."-"Tremblaya presents something of a paradox that some biologists think could help illuminate the evolution of cell parts. The combination of host and symbiont has allowed Tremblaya to cast off many of its genes, surviving with a genome size once thought to be impossible."-"Archibald, who was not involved in the study, described it as "a lot of mixing and matching taking place in evolutionary time.""-Mixing and matching is a great description, and one can begin to see how the cell evolved before cells themselves began to mix and match. For me, all of this is direct confirmation of Lynn Margulis' emphasis on symbiosis and cooperation as a key to the process of evolution.