06-22-2018, 01:44 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-22-2018, 12:54 PM by stevebowers.)
Well, if we use the term 'prokaryote' to mean 'everything that is not a eukaryote' then I hope that this would be possible, since I've suggested that eukaryotes are unique to Earth. But instead there will be other, analogous forms, eukaryotoids perhaps, that can readily form multicellular clonal organisms like ourselves. Maybe the 'endosymbiotes' are external, making them exosymbiotes; or maybe they extend between cells like hyphae or even like springs. (a spiral-type microbe might handily join two or more cells together).
The important aspect of a clonal multicellar organism on Earth is that all the cells are identical genetically, but are modified locally to perform different functions. These cells are the result of sexual reproduction. Could there be an alternative process on other worlds? Maybe the cells are all haploid, like germ cells, and only come together to mate, producing a fruiting body of some sort. Or maybe the cells of an organism reproduce asexually, and only the endosymbiotes reproduce sexually.
The important aspect of a clonal multicellar organism on Earth is that all the cells are identical genetically, but are modified locally to perform different functions. These cells are the result of sexual reproduction. Could there be an alternative process on other worlds? Maybe the cells are all haploid, like germ cells, and only come together to mate, producing a fruiting body of some sort. Or maybe the cells of an organism reproduce asexually, and only the endosymbiotes reproduce sexually.