Journal of Plant Sciences 2014; 2(2): 82-88 Published online April 20, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/jps) doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20140202.11 Membrane heredity composed by symbiogenesis Javeed Hussain, Guangxiao Yang, Guangyuan He College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China Email address: javed_choudary@msn.com (J. Hussain), ygx@hust.edu.cn (Guangxiao Yang), hegy@hust.edu.cn (Guangyuan He) To cite this article: Javeed Hussain, Guangxiao Yang, Guangyuan He. Membrane Heredity Composed by Symbiogenesis. Journal of Plant Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2014, pp. 82-88. doi: 10.11648/j.jps.20140202.11 Abstract: Symbiogenesis overshadows the importance of other eukaryogenetic processes. By working on the endosymbiotic cellular heredity in its entirety, it transformed the eukaryotic world. This mini-review strived to produce a concise account of symbiogenetic heredity of membranes in eukaryotes. Symbiogenesis integrated the endosymbiotic alpha-proteobacterium and cyanobacterium with the host, by utilising almost all the major prokaryotic components of membranes and protein translocation machinery along with a lot of eukaryotic inventions. It beautifully compartmentalized the eukaryotic cell by putting the prokaryotic membranes in continuity with the eukaryotic membranes and produced a whole spectrum of membrane topologies. Topogenesis of symbiogenetic hereditary membranes produced cell organelles with a diversity of metabolic capabilities. Development of protein translocation system manifests real ingenuity of symbiogenetic processes which integrates the working of entire compliment of cellular organelles. Protein translocation systems are also chimera of prokaryotic and eukaryotic components. Keywords: Membrane Heredity, Symbiogenesis of Mitochondria, Symbiogenesis of Plastids, Membrane Chimera, Membrane Topology, Protein Import, Protein Translocation, Endosymbiosis 1. From Prokaryotes to Eukaryotes to Symbiosis The living world produced two major kinds of cells: bacteria and eukaryotes. Bacteria appear on the evolutionary timescale around 3.5 billion years ago. The evolutionary timescale shows the birth of eukaryotes near to 1 billion years old [1]. Around 60 major innovations qualified the bacteria to enter into the eukaryotic world. These innovations supported three major realms of change: (1) the eukaryotic cell materialised the cytoskeleton and endomembrane system in coordination with the evolution of phagotrophy; (2) DNA- membrane attachments when internalised through phagocytosis, disrupted bacterial division; which resulted in the evolution of nucleus and mitotic cell division; (3) perfection of phagotrophy opened the doors for another important biological process ‘symbiogenesis’ [1]. The prokaryotic world does not support the intracellular symbiosis [2, 3]. On the evolutionary timescale, it emerged with the materialisation of phagocytosis by radically remodelling a bacterium. When radically transformed, that remodelled bacterium possessed complex internal cell membranes, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), endosomes, and lysosomes [1,4-6]. This architecture was required to support phagotrophy in the ancestral eukaryotes. Phagotrophy created possibilities of symbiosis between ancestral eukaryotic cells and prokaryotic world. Symbiogenetic processes selected only few of symbiotic consortia and transformed the eukaryotic world. It also set the stage for the evolution of intracellular digestion of the prey, which actually expanded the adaptive zone for the organisms. The evolution of phagotrophic complement ‘actomyosin motility system’ provided enough support to the intracellular digestion to materialise the ingestion of whole prey [1]. In the eukaryotic evolution, this strip of timescale produced the most wide-ranging innovations in protein molecular machineries [1,2,5,7]. 2. Symbiosis to Symbiogenesis In context of phagocytosis, there are few unprecedented developments on the evolutionary timescale. First is the emergence of intracellular symbiosis between ancestral phagotrophic eukaryotes and the prokaryotic world, in spite of the presence of an operational intracellular digestion of the prokaryotic prey. Second development is the transformation of symbiosis into symbiogenesis. Symbiogenetic processes worked on few stable symbiotic consortia of ancestral eukaryotes and prokaryotic