Endosymbiosis is currently kind of annoying to use. You have to identify the specific cell to absorb, which can be difficult; you have to find it, and it might be in a far-off patch; and it’s liable to go extinct easily.
I suggest the ability to steal organelles from other cells you engulf. It wouldn’t be particularly useful, but it is scientifically accurate AFAIK, and it would be useful as a way to catch up if you’re really far behind other eukaryotes organelle-wise.
I still like the endosymbiosis system, it makes main* organelles more than just bigger variants of proteins (even though chemoplasts appear without endosymbiosis, at least in my current run, and hydrogenase doesn’t have an endosymbiont form), but it is kind of awkward to use and means that the initial period of eukaryotic play is pretty difficult, as you’ve taken a massive hit to ATP for not a particularly large amount of gain, without organelles to use (unless you’ve managed to set yourself up such that you can maintain a good speed as a eukaryote and somehow keep your ATP running, in which case you can eat everything, at least for a bit).
*Organelles involved in ATP production as opposed to other ones like lysosomes and vacuoles - I’m tempted to call the former Series 1 and the latter Series 2 organelles, because that sounds cool.
Can you give the source where you found that this would be scientifically accurate?
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doomlightning
(The Invisible Aztec Dodo God. Real Plant Torturer, Ltd.)
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I do agree with you that the endosymbiosis system now needs to be worked out in some places (such as the fact that species don’t stay forever once you start with it and they die out before you can do the endosymbiosis. That’s my experience so far)
At the same time, stealing organelles is actually a real thing and it even has many names. Among them: kleptoplasty, Karyoklepty and Kleptoprotein are the best known. Many different creatures from all life groups do this in their own way. It can be said that this may be a stepping stone for endosymbiosis in some cases (specifically Karyoklepty - stealing the cell nucleus of other creatures in order to maintain its own biomechanical systems).
But unlike endosymbiosis, they all have one thing in common - they don’t last long. There are many reasons, but it boils down to the thief’s ability to maintain the stolen product. Endosymbiosis works because the symbiotic cell manages to preserve its genes (either its own or lend them to the host cell) and maintain the proteins that are required for it to last effectively. For example in the mitochondria - the vast majority (there are about 20 genes that the mitochondria still produces on its own) is produced in the cell nucleus, and another process called fusion, fission and biosynthesis respectively which help to maintain the mitochondria because in the most basic sense of any living being - protein does not last long. Some proteins break down or lose their function after a few minutes while others use tricks to last longer. Mitochondria - the main source of radical production, causes the destruction of proteins and for this there is a constant maintenance and turnover of the proteins.
Imagine that a thief stole the organelles of the cell for his own use - over time they lose the ability to reproduce until they break down in the cell as a result of metabolism. Not to mention that the environment of the stolen organ is not suitable for its function, such as the PH level, concentration of ions, etc. these things.
But why is this strategy subtle in many creatures if we change this disadvantage? That’s because you’re just being replaced all the time - as long as there’s a lot of them, it’s not a problem.
And this is already a gray area in this whole matter. What’s currently in the game is the closest thing I can think of to the whole realm of Klepto. The thing is that this is a game, there is a balance between reality and gameplay and for that I take my hat off to how they do it.
Assuming this is a reputable magazine, sea slugs can eat algae and take some of the chloroplasts from it as a supplementary food source. That’s… well, it’s not actually a cellular-level thing, but apparently, some eukaryotes are actually kleptoplastic.
That being said, neither article lists any cells which acquired chloroplasts permanently through this process, so it wouldn’t really be that useful as a get-out-of-jail-free card for someone dealt a bad hand by the endosymbiosis system.
Oh, didn’t read the other post. Well, still: sources.