Endosymbiosis, the theory that says that plastids such as mitochondria and chloraplasts are actually the decendents of bacteria that entered into a symbiotic relationship with other cells.

 

Several weeks ago my plant physiology professor made an interesting prediction. The roots of legumes form symbiotic relationships with nitrogen fixing bacteria calle rhizobium. The process of how the root cells and rhizobium actually form their relationship requires that the bacteria infect the root cells. The prediction made by my professor was the possibility of these bacteria one day becoming just as much a part of the plant as mitochondria. So what we have is a possible case for future endosymbiosis. What do you guys think?

 

For more information on the process of how rhizobium and legumes interact go here: http://www.ls.huji.ac.il/~nurit/photosyn/Nitrogen/Rhizobium-legumeassociation.htm

Certainly possible, but its hard to know how likely it is for that to happen considering there are so many unknown factors.

A very interesting thought. Might it be that it has already occured in one or more species that have not yet been studied in detail? How easy might this be to overlook if you were researching some other aspect of the plant?