Question

The graphic below represents a theory proposed by Lynn Margulis. Which statement below best corresponds with this theory?
A. Larger eukaryotes engulfed smaller eukaryotes, eventually developing into animals and plants.
B. Smaller prokaryotes engulfed larger prokaryotes, eventually developing into eukaryotic organisms.
C. Larger prokaryotes engulfed smaller prokaryotes, eventually developing into eukaryotic organisms.
D. Eukaryotic organisms engulfed prokaryotic organisms, eventually developing into animals and plants.

Answer 1

Lynn Margulis is responsible for the idea that endosymbiosis explains the origin of eukaryotic cells.
So, you would have to start with prokaryotic cells (bacteria) and it is believed that mitochondria and plastids in eukaryotic cells came from one prokaryote engulfing another but not digesting it. The engulfed cell took on some of the jobs of running the cell for the host.
For one cell to engulf another, it would have to be the larger cell that engulfed the smaller cell.