Evolution of metabolic organisation

S.A.L.M. Kooijman
Dept Theoretical Biology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam 
bas@bio.vu.nl; http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/

Technical University Lisbon 2009/09/23

The most popular hypothesis on the origin of eukaryotes is, nowadays,
the entering of an eubacterium into an archaeum, a unique event.
The endosymbiont evolved into a mitochondrion: eukaryogenesis.

I will discuss the various steps in the metabolic organisation of
prokaryotes and the subsequent steps of eukaryotes in the light of the
Dynamic Energy Budget theory. Where prokaryotic metabolism is
characterised by a diversification of assimilation, which evolved from
litho-, via photo- to hetero-trophy, eukaryotic
metabolism is characterised by innovations in organisation, with
phagocytosis and syntrophy as keywords.