You discover a new unicellular organism and cleverly name it Cellus biologicus. Your initial studies reveal that this organism has a distinct nucleus, ER, golgi, and ribosomes - all components of a normal eukaryotic cell. You also discover a novel cellular component that appears to be an "organelle." You hypothesize that this "organelle" originated via endosymbiosis and conduct experiments to test this hypothesis. Your data reveal the following information:
Cellus biologicus plasma membrane:
- "Organelle"
- Bacteria
- Membrane characteristics:
- 5% cholesterol, 71% phosphatidylcholine, 0.001% hopanoids
- Single membrane: 5% cholesterol, 71% phosphatidylcholine, 0.001% hopanoids
- 0.0045% cholesterol, 72% phosphatidylcholine, 5% hopanoids
DNA:
- Linear, 1.6 billion nucleotides, 100 um
- None
- Circular, 2.8 million
Diameter:
- 12.8 um
- 12 pm
(a) Do the above data support the endosymbiont hypothesis? "Yes" (answer will suffice).
(b) Provide a 5-6 sentence explanation for your Yes/No choice.