Citation

Kutschera U, Khanna R. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 2022; 31(1): 178-184.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer-Nature)

DOI

10.1007/s13562-021-00717-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

One century ago (Jan. 9, 1921), the Russian biologist Constantin S. Merezhkowsky, who proposed the endosymbiotic origin of plastids, committed suicide at the age of 66 years. Here, we provide Merezhkowsky's original observations on chloroplast development in seedlings and recount the career and achievements of the "founding father" of this Anti-Darwinian symbiogenesis-theory of cell evolution via cooperation and functional integration. In his phylogenetic tree published in 1910, Merezhkowsky distinguished between organisms that belong to all five Kingdoms of Life (Monera, Protoctista, Fungi, Animalia and Plantae), proposed a hypothesis concerning the origin of life, and argued that chloroplasts are descendants of once free-living cyanobacteria. A few years later, the American biologist Ivan E. Wallin (1883-1969) proposed that mitochondria evolved from ancient bacteria. The Merezhkowsky-Wallin-principle of organelle origin is summarized, and its current status critically evaluated. In addition, the contributions of Lynn Margulis (1938-2011), who died ten years ago, are outlined and evaluated in the light of Merezhkowsky's pioneering work that led to the establishment of "evolutionary cell biology" as an independent research agenda. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology.

Language: en

Keywords

Mitochondria; Chloroplasts; Endosymbiosis; Margulis; Merezhkowsky