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Endosymbiosis, Revisited as Genome Fusion

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Endosymbiotic theory, per Unit 2's Bio 0274, describes mitochondria and chloroplasts' origin as extreme horizontal gene transfer: a prokaryote engulfed and retained by another, fusing genomes.

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Mitochondrial DNA, inherited separately from nuclear DNA and passed maternally, traces to a once free-living bacterium's genome.

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Endosymbiosis is widely accepted for mitochondria and chloroplasts — this entry extends no such status to the nucleus's origin.