ANDRZEJ KRAUZEThere was a sign hanging on the door of a microbial ecology lab at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, where I did my marine biology master’s thesis work: “Respect bacteria—they’re the only culture some people have.”
This homage to our single-celled partners on this planet stuck with me over the years, and my appreciation of microbes has only grown as I’ve learned more and more about them—most recently, the central role archaea have played in the evolution of life on Earth.
The current thought is that millions of years ago, archaeal ancestors of eukaryotes and ancient bacterial species engaged in fortuitous (as least from the human perspective) acts of cellular hanky-panky. Engulfed by more-complex, nucleated cells, bacteria entered into a symbiotic relationship with their archaeal hosts, and the partnership blossomed.
Eventually, the symbionts evolved into a new type of cell, with those encapsulated bacteria morphing into mitochondria and chloroplasts, essential engines of the eukaryotic newcomers.
And how lucky we eukaryotes are ...
