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All episodes/Episode 4.4b

Episode 4.4b · 32 min

How Plants Got Chloroplasts

How a cyanobacterium became a chloroplast, how photosynthetic partnerships spread through other cells, and how cells began forming multicellular bodies.

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Visual credits

33 sources

Sources and credits for imagery used in this film, including material incorporated into explanatory animations.

  • Elodea cells under microscope

    ~delta

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

    Cropped to a widescreen view; explanatory labels and chloroplast pointers added.

  • Red seaweed, South East Bay, Three Kings Islands PA111328

    Peter Southwood

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

    Framed for the opening montage; identifying label added.

  • Bancsó 2021 Fig 10-15 Spirogyra sp

    Sándor Bancsó

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Rotated 90° clockwise and resized for presentation; scale bar retained; explanatory labels and pointer added.

  • Gonium pectorale EPA

    Environmental Protection Agency

    View original source ↗Source licence: Public domain

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Volvox (250 23) Native preparation

    Doc. RNDr. Josef Reischig, CSc.

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 3

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Chlamydomonas TEM 01

    Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility, Dartmouth College

    View original source ↗Source licence: Public domain

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Essential protein import into chloroplasts — Figure 5

    Silvia Ramundo, Yukari Asakura, Patrice A Salomé, Daniela Strenkert, Morgane Boone, Luke C M Mackinder, Kazuaki Takafuji, Emine Dinc, Michèle Rahire, Michèle Crèvecoeur, Leonardo Magneschi, Olivier Schaad, Michael Hippler, Martin C Jonikas, Sabeeha Merchant, Masato Nakai, Jean-David Rochaix, Peter Walter

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 2

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 2

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Miao et al. 2024 Figure 1 — Qingshania magnifica filament morphology

    Lanyun Miao, Zongjun Yin, Andrew H. Knoll, Yuangao Qu, and Maoyan Zhu

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Miao et al. 2024 Figure 2 — Qingshania magnifica filament across scales

    Lanyun Miao, Zongjun Yin, Andrew H. Knoll, Yuangao Qu, and Maoyan Zhu

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 3

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 5

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Dictyostelium-Cells-Migrate-Similarly-on-Surfaces-of-Varying-Chemical-Composition-pone.0087981.s002

    McCann C, Rericha E, Wang C, Losert W, Parent C

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Chlamydomonas6-1

    Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility, Dartmouth College

    View original source ↗Source licence: Public domain

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Flagellar-Kinematics-and-Swimming-of-Algal-Cells-in-Viscoelastic-Fluids-srep09190-s3

    Qin B, Gopinath A, Yang J, Gollub J, Arratia P

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Motic Europe - These are Gonium Pectorale swimming together with Pandorina Morum. Bo...

    Motic Europe

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Eudorina - ボルボックスで観察する正の走光性 #volvox

    Eudorina

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Volvox daughter colony

    Depressedlymotivated

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Kirsty Wan 🔬 - Cell division in the green microalga #Volvox carteri has both plant a...

    Kirsty Wan 🔬

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • De novo origins of multicellularity in response to predation — Figure 1, colony micrographs

    Matthew D Herron, Joshua M Borin, Jacob C Boswell, Jillian Walker, I-Chen Kimberly Chen, Charles A Knox, Margrethe Boyd, Frank Rosenzweig, William C Ratcliff

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • De novo origins of multicellularity in response to predation — Figure 2, life cycles

    Matthew D Herron, Joshua M Borin, Jacob C Boswell, Jillian Walker, I-Chen Kimberly Chen, Charles A Knox, Margrethe Boyd, Frank Rosenzweig, William C Ratcliff

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Guillardia theta cell architecture — Figure 1 excerpt centred on panel b

    Ryo Onuma, Neha Mishra, Shin-ya Miyagishima; panel b drawing based on L. McKerracher and S. P. Gibbs (1982)

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Guillardia theta chloroplast and nucleomorph replication — Figure 2 microscopy excerpt

    Ryo Onuma, Neha Mishra, Shin-ya Miyagishima

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Diatoms through the microscope

    Prof. Gordon T. Taylor, Stony Brook University

    View original source ↗Source licence: Public domain

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Emiliania huxleyi coccolithophore (PLoS)

    Alison R. Taylor (University of North Carolina Wilmington Microscopy Facility)

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 2.5

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Dinophysis tripos

    Phycoplankton

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Bancsó 2021 Fig 7-12 Euglena limnophila

    Sándor Bancsó

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 4.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • ねこのしっぽラボ - 渡良瀬遊水池のプランクトン。パウリネラ (Paulinella chromatophora)だよ。殻を持つアメーバの仲間（有殻アメーバ）...

    ねこのしっぽラボ

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Paulinella chromatophora

    Luis Delaye, Cecilio Valadez-Cano, Bernardo Pérez-Zamorano

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY 2.5

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Paulinella-chromatophora-a-b-Different-focal-planes-of-micrographs-of-P-chromatophora

    Eva C. M. Nowack

    View original source ↗Source licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 2

    Eva C. M. Nowack, Michael Melkonian, and Arthur R. Grossman

    View original source ↗

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7RggKhWD8g ↗
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6MHQMufjq4 ↗
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahSUxWL2p0A ↗
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy3kZ_h9l78 ↗
  5. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1620089114 ↗
  6. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2014294117 ↗
  7. https://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/6/4/a016105 ↗
  8. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7031061/ ↗
  9. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5650054/ ↗
  10. strassert 2021 molecular timescale ↗
  11. 2025 dating plastids chromatophores ↗
  12. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1118800109 ↗
  13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6384880/ ↗
  14. https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/news--archives/2024/research-news/202401/t20240124_1128931.shtml ↗
  15. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2022.787665/full ↗
  16. https://github.com/ozanbozdag/de_novo_evolution_of_macroscopic_multicellularity ↗
  17. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06052-1 ↗
  18. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evaf090 ↗
  19. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11370 ↗
  20. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39558-8 ↗
  21. DOI: 10.1111/brv.13001 ↗
  22. miao 2024 qingshania ↗
  23. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk3208 ↗
  24. miao 2024 qingshania main ↗
  25. DOI: 10.1111/nph.71116 ↗
  26. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118800109 ↗
  27. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02668-2 ↗
  28. A New Model and Dating for the Evolution of Complex Plastids of Red Alga Origin ↗
  29. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014294117 ↗
  30. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620089114 ↗
  31. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaf167 ↗
  32. DOI: 10.1029/2024GL109457 ↗

Music

  • Meditation From The Star Orion
    OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements
Footage and image usage

Credits and usage times retained from the published edition or its production credit record. Where present, times identify visual appearances, not documentary chapters. Source and licence corrections are listed in the visual credits above.

  • Custom animations and figures: From Cosmos to Civilization. Third-party material incorporated into animations is credited on the linked sources page.

How this film was made

Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.

Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.

More about the creator and production →