Why do we still have mitochondrial DNA?

The mitochondrion isn't the bacterium it was in its prime, say two billion years ago. Since getting consumed by our common single-celled ancestor the "energy powerhouse" organelle has lost most of its 2,000+ genes, likely ...

Why do mitochondria retain their own genome?

It sounds like science fiction to suggest that every cell in the human body is occupied by a tiny genome-equipped organelle, with which we exist in symbiosis. But in actuality, eukaryotic life is dependent on mitochondria, ...

Nucleoids and the structure of life

(Phys.org) —In the brave new world of three-parent embryos several inherited mitochondrial diseases can potentially be solved. One slightly dubious argument used by its champions to assuage equally dubious traditional ethical ...

Cell powerhouses shape risk of heart disease

(Phys.org) —Genes in mitochondria, the "powerhouses" that turn sugar into energy in human cells, shape each person's risk for heart disease and diabetes, according to a study published recently by researchers at the University ...

Key protein in cellular respiration discovered

Many diseases derive from problems with cellular respiration, the process through which cells extract energy from nutrients. Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now discovered a new function ...

New clues about mitochondrial 'growth spurts'

Mitochondria are restless, continually merging and splitting. But contrary to conventional wisdom, the size of these organelles depends on more than fusion and fission, as Berman et al. show. Mitochondrial growth and degradation ...

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