The mitochondria and plastids originated from endosymbiotic events when ancestral cells engulfed an aerobic bacterium (in the case of mitochondria) and a photosynthetic bacterium (in the case of chloroplasts). The evolution of mitochondria likely preceded the evolution of chloroplasts.

Did chloroplasts evolve from mitochondria?

Mitochondria and chloroplasts likely evolved from engulfed prokaryotes that once lived as independent organisms. ... Eukaryotic cells containing mitochondria then engulfed photosynthetic prokaryotes, which evolved to become specialized chloroplast organelles.

What evidence suggests that mitochondria evolved before chloroplasts?

45) What evidence suggests that mitochondria might have evolved before chloroplasts? Almost all eukaryotes have mitochondria but only some cells have chloroplasts. The earliest cells detectable in fossils were different from the cells in animals, plants, fungi, and protists living today.