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Endocytosis is said to be an exclusively eukaryotic property. Why did prokaryotes not develop this ability?
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Elio's response:
I’ll try my hand at responding to all these comments.
Mark once again displays his erudition. He points to a possible pre-endocytic mechanism, and to a case for prokaryotic endocytosis.
Nathan reminds us that prokaryotic endocytosis must have taken place in eukaryogenesis.
Daniel calls out attention that for endocytosis to be successful, the vacuoles formed must “survive.” And he reminds us “blebbing” of the outer membrane is a kind of ”exocytosis.”
Lucas points to a paper maintaining that bacteria have internal membranes containing structural proteins analogous to ours. Mark says this is “a small leap” to endocytosis. Is it?
Peter call attention to the barrier to endocytosis presented by the prokaryotic rigid cell walls.
Anonymous (not posted) asks: "Might L-forms do it?"
Do you agree with me that these are challenging thoughts?
Posted by: Elio Schaechter | May 03, 2010 at 10:48 AM