How do the organelles become integrated into the algae's genetic code? If the algae reproduced, the other organism would no longer be there in its offspring, correcr?
If the algae reproduced, the other organism would no longer be there in its offspring, correcr?
I don't think that's quite correct, even before/if the new organelles are genetically integrated. It's not the best example, because we're multicellular, but humans receive mitochondrial DNA from their parents' mitochondrial dna (and not from their parent's nuclear dna) during spermatogenesis and embryogenesis
Yeah, but humans don't inherit our parents gut microbiome from birth, for example. I guess stuff like viruses you can be born with. Like, if a child's mother has HIV, that can be passed on. (but also there is a medication that prevents mothers from passing HIV to their children, FYI)
I don't think algae reproduce via mitosis. But like, would an unintegrated internal symbiote of a single celled animal get split in half in mitosis? or would it just go on one side or another of the splitting cells?
I've never thought about this stuff before, but it's fascinating.
Yeah, but humans don't inherit our parents gut microbiome from birth, for example
True, but those microbiota don't live inside our cells.
would an unintegrated internal symbiote of a single celled animal get split in half in mitosis? or would it just go on one side or another of the splitting cells?
my money's on the "it would go on one side or the other" hypothesis but this is a really interesting question! I imagine it could go the other way though if the symbiote is sensitive to its hosts reproductive signals and capable of replicating in time, so it probably depends on the specific host/symbiote pair
