Lynn Margulis: Difference between revisions

In 1966, as a young faculty member at [[Boston University]], Margulis wrote a theoretical paper titled "On the Origin of Mitosing Cells".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sagan |first1=Lynn |title=On the origin of mitosing cells |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |year=1967 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=225–274 |doi=10.1016/0022-5193(67)90079-3 |pmid=11541392}}</ref> The paper, however, was "rejected by about fifteen scientific journals," she recalled.<ref name=BrockmanInterview>Margulis, Lynn, [http://www.edge.org/documents/ThirdCulture/n-Ch.7.html Gaia Is a Tough Bitch]. Chapter 7 in The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution by John Brockman (Simon & Schuster, 1995)</ref> It was finally accepted by ''[[Journal of Theoretical Biology]]'' and is considered today a landmark in modern [[endosymbiotic theory]]. Weathering constant criticism of her ideas for decades, Margulis was famous for her tenacity in pushing her theory forward, despite the opposition she faced at the time.<ref name="obit"/> The descent of mitochondria from bacteria and of chloroplasts from cyanobacteria was experimentally demonstrated in 1978 by [[Murder_of_Robert_Schwartz#Background|Robert Schwartz]] and [[Margaret Dayhoff]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schwartz |first1=R. |last2=Dayhoff |first2=M. |title=Origins of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, mitochondria, and chloroplasts |journal=Science |year=1978 |volume=199 |issue=4327 |pages=395–403 |doi=10.1126/science.202030 |pmid=202030|bibcode=1978Sci...199..395S }}</ref> This formed the first experimental evidence for her theory.<ref name="obit"/> The endosymbiosis theory of organogenesis became widely accepted in the 1980s, when the genetic material of [[mitochondria]] and [[chloroplast]]s was found to be different from that of the symbiont's [[nuclear DNA]].<ref name="Reeve2014">{{cite book |last=Reeve |first=Eric C.R. |title=Encyclopedia of Genetics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuCYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA721 |date=14 January 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-26350-9 |page=721}}</ref>