Tamreen: wake up babe new* endosymbiotic organelle just dropped. They confirmed it's more than just symbiosis when they saw it absorbing whole proteins from the host! *100 million years old, but that's new compared to billions-years old mitochondria and chloroplasts

wake up babe new* endosymbiotic organelle just dropped. They confirmed it's more than just symbiosis when they saw it absorbing whole proteins from the host! *100 million years old, but that's new compared to billions-years old mitochondria and chloroplasts

Scientists discover first nitrogen-fixing organellenews.ucsc.edu In two recent papers, an international team led by UC Santa Cruz scientists describe the first known nitrogen-fixing organelle within a eukaryotic cell. The organelle is the fourth example in history ...

Wait holy shit an organelle? Like non-bacterial nitrogen fixing? Holy fucking shit

yeah! It definitely used to be a bacteria but they confirmed that it 1. grows and divides with the host cell 2. has lost enough DNA that it relies on the host for some proteins

Yo that's so cool! That's amazing

Oh wow!

Wait so is this like the birth of a new Kingdom or something??

I think for now they're still classified as plants, just ones that can fix their own nitrogen from the air

Explain why this is exiting please

New organelle just dropped after billion year hiatus. Last time nee organelles dropped we got multicellular life and plants and shit. New powerhouse of the cell if you will

There isn't enough nitrogen in usable form in soil to grow food for the global population. A large portion of current fertilizer production uses artificial processes.

The previous organelles that formed through endosymbiosis include chloroplasts and mitochondria. The existence of these organelles expanded the possibilities for life because before they evolved (especially mitochondria) cells were energy -limited.

Until this discovery, we thought that nitrogen fixation required a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria. The atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, but it's not in a form that life can use to build proteins. Nitrogen fixation is necessary to get it into the food chain.

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