For this week's #MitoMonday, we highlight the late great Lynn Margulis and the Endosymbiotic Theory. #MitoLegend aka #ScientificRebel aka #VindicatedHeretic aka #SciencesUnrulyEarthMother

Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander) graduated from the @UChicago at age 19 with a degree in Liberal Arts, then continued to earn a masters in genetics and zoology @UWMadison. She later earned her PhD at @UCBerkeley. 2/

Lynn Margulis proposed a unified theory of eukaryogenesis in her 1967 article “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells”. It was reported to have been rejected 15 times before being published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology http://bit.ly/2DeWXA6  #ThisAgain #LandmarkPaper 3/

“Three fundamental organelles: the mitochondria, the photosynthetic plastids and the (9 + 2) basal bodies of flagella were once themselves free-living (prokaryotic) cells” - “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells” Lynn Margulis (then Lynn Sagan), 1967 4/

Interesting Fact #1: That's right, Lynn was once married to famed astronomer Carl Sagan. They had two sons, Dorion and Jeremy. Pic from wedding day in 1957. #PowerCouple 5/

The rejection of the article was not her only struggle. She was labeled as a ‘scientific rebel’. Her ideas of mitochondria and chloroplasts being of bacterial origin were ignored for years. Later, after genetic evidence her ideas were appreciated for scientific merit. 6/

While her paper was not the first to suggest a prokaryotic origin of these organelles, it suggested a unified theory of eukaryogenesis. The first experimental proof of her theory was done by Robert Schwartz and Margret Dayhoff in 1978 http://bit.ly/2yDFJZq  #MitoMaverick 7/

Margulis was a strong proponent of symbiosis as a means for the evolution of eukaryotic cells. During the 1970s and 1980s, the field was turbulent, driven by groups that supported autogenous origin or xenogenous origin of organelles. 8/

Decades later data suggest that the mitochondrial genome resembles a bacterial genome. A number of models exist for the mechanism of acquisition and the prokaryotic origin. The hydrogen hypothesis ( https://go.nature.com/2D8IvK5 ) and phagotrophy model ( http://bit.ly/2Q2s44A ). 9/

Interesting Fact #2: Dr. Margulis was awarded many prizes in her illustrious career including the National Medal of Science in 1999 by President @BillClinton 10/

"I greatly admire [her] sheer courage and stamina in sticking by the endosymbiosis theory, [...] This is one of the great achievements of twentieth-century evolutionary biology, and I greatly admire her for it." @RichardDawkins 11/

"Lynn Margulis's name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin's is with evolution." Jan Sapp, 2012 12/12 #MitoMonday

Dr. Margulis passed away on November 22, 2011at home in Amherst, Massachusetts, five days after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. As her wish, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered in her favorite research areas, near her home. #MitoMonday

Here's a recent review/update on current view of mitochondrial endosymbiosis by @toni_gabaldon http://bit.ly/2qfTf0q , Thank you to @apoptosislab for bringing it to our attention! #MitoMondayAmendment2