The fate of obligate endosymbionts: reduction, integration, or extinction

Abstract

Whether mitochondria and plastids originated by endosymbiosis is no longer questioned, but we still do not understand the actual process of integration. Other, younger endosymbiotic systems are, however, relatively common. Traditionally, it was not clear whether these systems could be directly and informatively compared to organelles because they appear sufficiently different. Surprisingly, new data from both organelles and endosymbiotic bacteria are changing this view. As more commonalities are described, the processes underlaying these associations appear to be not so different after all. New models for endosymbiotic associations emphasize the importance of transient stages, conflict more than cooperation, and population genetics forces that lead to genome reduction, which in turn restricts most endosymbionts to one of a few possible evolutionary pathways, commonly ending with extinction.