Abstract
It is demonstrated that Paracoccus denitrificans resembles a mitochondrion more closely than do other bacteria, in that it effectively assembles in a single organism those features of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation which are otherwise distributed at random among most other aerobic bacteria. A feasible evolutionary transition from the plasma membrane of an ancestral aerobic bacterium resembling P. denitrificans to the inner mitochondrial membrane is suggested.
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John, P., Whatley, F. Paracoccus denitrificans and the evolutionary origin of the mitochondrion. Nature 254, 495–498 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/254495a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/254495a0
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