title: The intracellular cyanobacteria of Paulinella chromatophora: endosymbionts or organelles?
abstract: Endosymbiotic relationships are common across the tree of life and have had profound impacts on cellular evolution and diversity. Recent molecular investigations of the amoeba Paulinella chromatophora have raised a timely and important question: should obligatory intracellular cyanobacteria in Paulinella be considered new organelles, or do plastids and mitochondria hold a unique stature in the history of endosymbiotic events? We argue that drawing a sharp distinction between these two organelles and all other endosymbionts is not supported by accumulating data, neither is it a productive framework for investigating organelle evolution.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bodył
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mackiewicz
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Stiller
mesh_terms: D000656:Amoeba / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D015388:Organelles / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology*