They have the ability to kill the cell as well as provide power, they can communicate and transfer resources to other mitochondria, and they might be one of the reasons that organisms need sleep.
I heard a science communicator suggest that in some senses, we might just exist to serve the needs of our mitochondria.
Scientists theorize that the mitochondria was an entirely different organism which was captured by our ancient single-celled ancestor and assimilated into itself. I can’t remember what the evidence is for this theory but it’s wild to think about.
Yep! It’s called primary endosymbosis and it’s one of the coolest things around! (I think.) The endpoint of a process where two parts of symbiotic relationship morph into an organ in an organism.
The first case of primary endosymbosis resulted in the mitochondria and thus all multicellar life. That’s pretty cool.
Another time created the chloroplast and thus all plantlife. Again, yay for primary endosymbiosis!
A few years ago scientists discovered that it happened really recently, resulting in an organism with a “nitroplast” for in house nitrogen fixing. So in the far distant future there could be an entirely novel branch of life, potentially as different from what we know as redwoods are from cats.
IIRC it’s because mitochondria have their DNA and keep it stored in a circular form similar to bacteria. I think also plants having chloroplasts, while animals have mitochondria adds more evidence, given that they are very similar structures.
Mitochondria are so much more than that!
They have the ability to kill the cell as well as provide power, they can communicate and transfer resources to other mitochondria, and they might be one of the reasons that organisms need sleep.
I heard a science communicator suggest that in some senses, we might just exist to serve the needs of our mitochondria.
Scientists theorize that the mitochondria was an entirely different organism which was captured by our ancient single-celled ancestor and assimilated into itself. I can’t remember what the evidence is for this theory but it’s wild to think about.
Yep! It’s called primary endosymbosis and it’s one of the coolest things around! (I think.) The endpoint of a process where two parts of symbiotic relationship morph into an organ in an organism.
The first case of primary endosymbosis resulted in the mitochondria and thus all multicellar life. That’s pretty cool.
Another time created the chloroplast and thus all plantlife. Again, yay for primary endosymbiosis!
A few years ago scientists discovered that it happened really recently, resulting in an organism with a “nitroplast” for in house nitrogen fixing. So in the far distant future there could be an entirely novel branch of life, potentially as different from what we know as redwoods are from cats.
Mitochondria have thier own DNA, and I think that is the reason for that theory.
IIRC it’s because mitochondria have their DNA and keep it stored in a circular form similar to bacteria. I think also plants having chloroplasts, while animals have mitochondria adds more evidence, given that they are very similar structures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_chromosome
note that plants have both mitochondria and chloroplasts, while animals have only mitochondria
Yes! It was something like that. It’s been a few years since I took that biology class but that sounds right.