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Litoshenko A. Ya.
Mitochondrial Evolution
Cytology and Genetics 2002, v 36, number 5, 49-57
Until recently, the origin and evolution of mitochondria was explained by the serial endosymbiosis hypothesis. This hypothesis posits that contemporary mitochondria are the direct descendants of a bacterial endosymbiont, which was settled in a nucleus-containing amitochondriate host cell. Results of the mitochondrial gene sequences support a monophyletic origin of the mitochondria from a single eubacterial ancestor shared with a subdivision of the a-Proteobacteria. In recent years, the complete sequences of the vast variety of mitochondrial and eubacterial genomes were determined. These data indicate that the mitochondrial genome evolved from a common ancestor of all extant eukaryotes and assume a possibility that the mitochondrial and nuclear constituents of the eukaryotic cell originated simultaneously.
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