The Birth of Complex Cells

Remember, one original idea and one response to a classmate.

the names for the two types of cells--"eukaryote" and "prokaryote" is interesting. i learned about this a couple weeks ago in my bio class at high school. i learned that "pro" meant "before" and "eu" meant "true" in greek. i didn't know why the prokaryotes meant "before" until i read this article which explained the theory that the prokaryotes came first and the eukaryotes evolved from them.

that cleared things up for me

This probably sounds extremely stupid, but I had no idea that world didn't have oxygen in the beginning of time, I just thought it was always there.

Linda, I didn't know that pro- meant "before" or eu- meant "true" so you cleared up that aspect for me...nice observation

I already knew that there was no oxygen at the beginning and that it was put into the atmosphere by cyanobacteria as a waste product. I also knew that mitochondria and chloroplasts were thought to be smaller independent cells swallowed by larger cells and integrated into the structure. What I felt was interesting was the explanation on how the cells grew bigger; the membrane wrinkling in on itself and all that. I was also fascinated by the idea that there were only those prokaryotes for over 3 billion years... All alone, countless little cells... such a long, long time...

I knew that oxygen hadn't always been in our atmosphere but I was suprised to learn that it was toxic to most organisms when it first be came prevalent. So cells then had to adopt peroxisomes and mitochondria in order to survive. I had always thought that a cell had to have had mitochodria in order to have enough energy to function, but apparently not as they were adopted as defense mechanisms.

Lisa, I thought that the idea of the membrane growing and folding and enveloping other prokaryotes was interesting too.

I thought it was really interesting how the article focused many of its points around mitochondria, plastids, and peroxisomes. The biology and anatomy classes that I've taken in the past all explained what these organelles do, but the article went so much more in depth with them, including background on their origin, function, etc. I learned the most from page 56, where the author explained how oxygen was toxic to many of the organisms.

Erin, I completely agree with you because I knew that oxygen wasn't always present but had no idea that it was toxic to most organisms. The fact that they had to adopt peroxisomes and mitochondria to survive was also new information to me because I didn't know they could function as destroyers of dangerous and toxic oxygen.

I thought this artcle was extremely intersting. I remember learning something about how prokaryotes grandually formed into eukaryotic cells in Biology, but the article I read then did not go into great detail about what must have happened; leaving me with many questions. This article explained every aspect about the process perfectly and answered all of my questions about how it could have happend.

I also agree with Erin and Lisa that the most fascinating part was how the membrane folded and ingested porkaryotes. Its weird to think that the cells in our body were formed like that.

I thought it was really intersting how modern prokaryotes eat by first digesting their food, and then ingesting them. This article cleared a lot of things up for me about prokaryotes and eukayotes.

Casey, i didnt really have an idea of how prokaryotes formed into eukaryotes either. All i really learned about them in my biology class were how they were similar and different

A lot of the information in this article I learned in AP Bio, but there were a couple of interesting random facts I found. For one, a woman was the first advocate of mitochondria descending from bacteria. Woo for women scientists. I also had learned about stromatolites and thought they were cool but I never knew the first eukaryotes lived in them. Lastly, I thought it was cool that plastids must have been aqcuired at different times, producing the different colors of algae.

I thought the engulfing of prokaryotes was interesting too, but I still can't grasp how membranes are fluid enough to break off to form a vacuole but can reform perfectly.

In Biology, I have learned about the cell parts and functions of both the prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, I did not know how the prokaryotes evolved into eukaryotes. I think its amazing how every living thing evolved from a cell not containing a nucleus and able to live without oxygen.

I also thought it was interesting how the membrane folds, like Casey, Erin, and Lisa. I knew that if the cells grow to a certain size, they will split because it is beter to have less surface area. I didn't know that the membrane was capable to ingest prokaryotes.

For some reason it posted my comment under Amber's name the first time!

Daniela, it's interesting that you bring up the cell division. I sorta learned this in m highschool bio course, but this article really helped to make sense why the cells developed the way they did.

I haven't taken biology since freshman year and have never taken anatomy so this whole article was pretty much news to me. I liked how it explained how each part of the eukaryote developed from a prokaryote. This article did raise a big question for me though. It talks about how cells evolved from prokaryotes to eukaryotes but how did prokaryotes get there in the first place?

Brittany, I didn't know that oxygen wasn't there in the beginning either. I thought that was the most interesting part of the article, how like oxygen was so toxic but that led to us, eventually. It made me think of humans polluting..like maybe us polluting the world will lead to some other more advanced thing.

The point the article made about not knowing how the cells evolved because of a lack of direct clues emphasizes the fact that there are still many unanswered questions that can be looked into

hahhaha the same thing that happened to Daniela happened to me...i do not know why

hahhaha the same thing that happened to Daniela happened to me...i do not know why