re: Two lifeforms merge in once-in-a-billion-years evolutionary event

quote:

---

Please explain how DNA of the host organism incorporated the DNA of the assimilated organism and then was able to reproduce with a new genetic code that now included new information..

---

If it works the same way as the mitocondria is believed to work, they replicate within their host while the host replicates and have their own separate DNA

quote:

---

Today, this theory is widely accepted [1]. Mitochondria therefore have their own DNA (mtDNA), circular and double-stranded, closer to a prokaryotic genome than nuclear DNA, with a genetic code slightly different from the universal genetic code found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.

---

quote:

---

Mitochondria are unusual organelles. They act as the power plants of the cell, are surrounded by two membranes, and have their own genome. They also divide independently of the cell in which they reside, meaning mitochondrial replication is not coupled to cell division.

---