Scientists date prehistoric bacterial invasion still present in today's cells
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - 14:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Long before plants and animals inhabited the earth, when life consisted of single-celled organisms afloat in a planet-wide sea, bacteria invaded these organisms and took up permanent residence. One bacterium eventually became the mitochondria that today power all plant and animal cells; another became the chloroplast that turns sunlight into energy in green plants.