Abstract
Endosymbiosis is a type of symbiosis where one species of microscopic scale inhabits the cell of another species of a larger scale, such that the exchange of metabolic byproducts produces mutual benefit. These benefits can occur at different biological levels. For example, endosymbiosis promotes efficiency of the cell metabolism, cell replication, and the generation of a macroscopic layer that protects the organism from its predators. Therefore, modeling endosymbiosis requires a complex-systems and multilevel approach. We propose a model of endosymbiosis based on reaction networks, where species of the reaction network represent either ecological species, resources, or conditions for the ecological interactions to happen, and the endosymbiotic interaction mechanisms are represented by different sequences of reactions (processes) in the reaction network. As an example, we develop a toy model of the coral endosymbiotic interaction. The model considers two reaction networks, representing biochemical traffic and cellular proliferation levels, respectively. In addition, the model incorporates top-down and bottom-up regulation mechanisms that stabilizes the endosymbiotic interaction.
Highlights
Endosymbiosis is a particular kind of symbiosis which occurs when an organism lives within another in a mutualistic relationship. is relationship is given by the coupling of the host’s and endosymbiont’s metabolisms through exchange of useful metabolites [1, 2]. e endosymbiotic concept was proposed by Lynn Margulis, who developed Serial Endosymbiosis eory (SET) to explain the origin of plastids and mitochondria as organelles in the eukaryotic cell, promoting the emergence of eukaryotic cell complexity [3]
At the cellular proliferation level, we identify three types of cells: H: host S: Symbiodinium HS: symbiont
Erefore, when the nutrient traffic is intensified by the presence of the Symbiodinium, the extra energy produced regulates in a bottom-up manner the kinetic parameter krHeSp of the endosymbiotic interaction at the cellular proliferation level, activating its proliferation
Summary
Endosymbiosis is a particular kind of symbiosis which occurs when an organism (endosymbiont) lives within another (host) in a mutualistic relationship. is relationship is given by the coupling of the host’s and endosymbiont’s metabolisms through exchange of useful metabolites [1, 2]. e endosymbiotic concept was proposed by Lynn Margulis, who developed Serial Endosymbiosis eory (SET) to explain the origin of plastids and mitochondria as organelles in the eukaryotic cell, promoting the emergence of eukaryotic cell complexity [3]. E latter provides an ecological advantage and promotes survival because the metabolic coupling between coral cells and Symbiodinium promotes cellular proliferation implying coral’s growth Such growth process is regulated by the release of an inhibition factors by the endosymbiont. The experimental study of endosymbiotic systems is extremely complicated, and it cannot be properly achieved by analyzing the interacting species separately [1] For this reason, a modeling framework for the establishment of the endosymbiosis relationship is of crucial importance from an ecological perspective [11]. Such modeling framework of endosymbiosis should incorporate both the multiple levels at which the interaction takes place as well as bottom-up and top-down regulation mechanisms These features are relevant for endosymbiosis and for embryonic development [12], ecological trophic networks [13], and during evolutionary processes [14, 15]. We complement the latter with a discussion of how we could scale up to more realistic models of the interaction, and we end with a conclusion
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