What did Lynn Margulis propose the mechanism of endosymbiosis to explain the origin of?
1 Answer
The evolution of eukaryotic cells.
Explanation:
Prokaryotic cells evolved around 3 billion years ago as simple bacteria that consisted of a cell with DNA kind of floating around. Eukaryotic cells evolved much later (around 1.5 billion years or so) and are the kind of cell that we and all modern mulitcellular organisms are composed of. Eukaryotic cells have various little organelles floating around the cell including a distinct nucleus to contain DNA.
Dr. Margulis proposed that at least some of these organelles evolved by a process called endosymbiosis - basically that at one time all or most of these organelles were themselves separate kinds of bacteria. These bacteria were engulfed by the larger cell and instead of digesting them, they formed a symbiotic partnership of sorts. See pic
