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NOT UNIQUE. "We suggest that there is no fundamental difference in kind between these various symbiotic alliances, just different evolutionary histories. Eukaryotes do not pose unique challenges to and do not require special treatment within evolutionary theory." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

ON A SPECTRUM. "Eukaryogenesis is not necessarily different in kind from other symbiotic alliances that have occurred much more recently in evolutionary history, but it is a very ancient one, affected at a basic cellular level. Accordingly, it receives very high scores along each of the axes of integration. Some (but not all) of the other symbioses have lower scores along some axes." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

HIGH LEVEL ALLIANCES. "Although there are some aspects of the eukaryotic condition that have not been documented in higher-level egalitarian alliances (e.g., gene transfer between partners), even these aspects are not unique to mitochondria and plastids, as both the Paulinella and “Chlorochromatium aggregatum” cases show." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

MIXED COMMUNITIES. "Processes of evolution in which entities from different lineages can be bound together in the creation of new community-level reproductive individuals are not uncommon, and such symbiotic entities occur at hierarchical levels above that of the cell, sometimes among exclusively eukaryotic partners." A very fresh perspective on the old issue of the uniqueness of eukaryogenesis. http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

BOGUS RARITY CLAIMS. "Thus, claims about both the process and product of eukaryogenesis as being unique or as challenging contemporary evolutionary theory should at least be treated with skepticism." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

SYMBIOTIC ANTS. "Perhaps the most astounding case is that of the higher attine leaf cutting ants and their close association with Leucocoprinae fungi. Inside attine ant nests is a fungal garden, which constitutes the main source of nutrition for the workers of the colony. The two partners have been coevolving in a symbiotic relationship for an estimated 10 million years." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

LESS THAN RARE. "Symbiotic alliances making up collective Darwinian individuals are also not infrequently formed between multicellular eukaryotic partners." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

PROKARYOTIC LACK OF COMPLEXITY. "This is because each trait has energy costs in terms of evolving and expressing novel protein families, and unless these costs can be met generously, complexity is counter-selected for energetic reasons." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

PEA APHIDS AND MORE. "Buchnera reside in specialized bacteriocytes and are maternally transmitted to offspring: the aphid/Buchnera holobiont satisfies quite stringent reproductive criteria for Darwinian individuality. There are many other cases of insects associating with intracellular mutualistic bacteria for nutritional supplementation." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn

MANY FALSE STARTS. "The implications for complexity can hardly be overstated. Whereas prokaryotes frequently make a start towards eukaryotic complexity, they rarely exhibit more than one complex eukaryotic trait at a time." http://www.pnas.org/content/112/33/10278.full View in LinkedIn