The endosymbiotic theory argues that mitochondria, plastids (e.g. chloroplasts), and possibly other organelles of eukaryotic cells, originate through symbiosis between multiple microorganisms. According to this theory, certain organelles originated as free-living bacteria that were taken inside another cell as endosymbionts. Mitochondria developed from proteobacteria (in particular, Rickettsiales, the SAR11 clade, or close relatives) and chloroplasts from cyanobacteria.
Read more about Endosymbiotic Theory: History, From Endosymbionts To Organelles, Evidence, Secondary Endosymbiosis, Extensions
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“The weakness of the man who, when his theory works out into a flagrant contradiction of the facts, concludes “So much the worse for the facts: let them be altered,” instead of “So much the worse for my theory.””
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)