Symbiogenesis, endosymbiotic theory, or serial endosymbiotic theory, is the leading evolutionary theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic organisms. The theory holds that mitochondria, plastids such as chloroplasts, and possibly other organelles of eukaryotic cells are descended from formerly free-living prokaryotes (more closely related to bacteria than archaea) taken one inside the other in endosymbiosis. The idea that chloroplasts were originally independent organisms that merged into a symbiotic relationship with other one-celled organisms dates to the 19th century, espoused by researchers such as Andreas Schimper.