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"The s were acquired by a eukaryotic cell that was already a fully fledged eukaryotic cell."
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Nick LaneI would define complexity, not really as genetic complexity because if — Nick Lane
"I would define complexity, not really as genetic complexity because if you take it purely as genetic complexity, E. coli... a single cell may have 4,000 genes but the metagenome, the pool of genes in E. coli around the place may be on the order to 30,000 or more... [T]hats the level of complexity equivalent to the human genome, or even more complex than the human genome, but its organized and structured in a different way. ...You might say that its structured in a similar way to an ... but I think an ant colony has taken that level of Eusocial behavior a long way beyond anything you would see in E. coli. So I would define it as morphologically complex, meaning cells are larger and have a lot of stuff in them."
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Nick Lane
Nick Lane
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Nick Lane is a British biochemist and writer. He is a professor in evolutionary biochemistry at University College London. His books have won several awards.
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"Thats why they [viruses] are not in the tree of life. They dont relate in a very direct way. ...[T]he tree of life now is not only about ribosomes. You can build trees from whole genomes, but viral genomes? They dont really fit in, in a way which makes sense to people."
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Nick LaneQuote
"Mitochondria are a badly kept secret. ...There are usually hudreds or thousands of them in a single cell, where they use oxygen to burn up food. ...[O]ne billion ...would fit comfortably on a grain of sand."
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Nick LaneQuote
"[L]ife will probably get stuck in a bacterial rut elsewhere in the universe... we might not be alone, but will almost certainly be lonely."
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Nick LaneQuote
"According to mitochondrial gene analysis, man didnt interbreed with Homo Sapiens..."
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Nick LaneQuote
"The possessors of... nuclei, the s, are the most important cells in the world. ...[A]ll plants and animals, all and fungi... essentially everything we can see with the naked eye, is composed of [them]..."
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Nick Lane