Mitochondrian
The Mitochondrion
The cell is the most basic unit of life. The cell serves as the place for processes such as cellular respiration, metabolism and energy production in the form of ATP, or adenosine triphosphate. Many organelles—small structures that help to carry out the daily operations of the cell, inhabit the cell such as the Golgi complex, the endoplasmic reticulum, the nucleus, or brain of the cell, and lysosomes. An organelle that is the place where most of the cell’s energy is generated is called the mitochondrion. The mitochondrion, commonly named “the powerhouse of the cell,” is found in most eukaryotic cells, and the number of mitochondria within a cell can vary; however, this depends on the organism and the tissue type. This organelle is so unique that it contains its own DNA. This is so because the mitochondrion is theorized to have once been a cell on its own according to the endosymbiotic theory which suggests that the mitochondrion has a distant bacterial history. While the main function of the mitochondrion is energy production, other functions are heat production, aid in cell death and storage of calcium ions.
Because the mitochondrion has its own DNA, theory suggests that the mitochondrion has a prokaryotic history. The endosymbiotic theory proposes that the mitochondria originated as a prokaryotic organism along with the chloroplast—an organelle that conducts photosynthesis, evolved from bacteria. Both of these organelles were taken in by the cell as endosymbionts. Ivan Wallin introduced the idea of the mitochondrion having a prokaryotic ancestry in the 1920s (Jarvis par. 2). However, his theory was ignored and later popularized by Lynn Margulis in 1967. Margulis argued that eukaryotic cells originated as communities of interacting entities (Jarvis par. 3). At first, she was ridiculed by mainstream biologists for many years; fortunately, data that supports the endosymbiotic theory has accumulated over the past few decades to offer a plausible
The cell is the most basic unit of life. The cell serves as the place for processes such as cellular respiration, metabolism and energy production in the form of ATP, or adenosine triphosphate. Many organelles—small structures that help to carry out the daily operations of the cell, inhabit the cell such as the Golgi complex, the endoplasmic reticulum, the nucleus, or brain of the cell, and lysosomes. An organelle that is the place where most of the cell’s energy is generated is called the mitochondrion. The mitochondrion, commonly named “the powerhouse of the cell,” is found in most eukaryotic cells, and the number of mitochondria within a cell can vary; however, this depends on the organism and the tissue type. This organelle is so unique that it contains its own DNA. This is so because the mitochondrion is theorized to have once been a cell on its own according to the endosymbiotic theory which suggests that the mitochondrion has a distant bacterial history. While the main function of the mitochondrion is energy production, other functions are heat production, aid in cell death and storage of calcium ions.
Because the mitochondrion has its own DNA, theory suggests that the mitochondrion has a prokaryotic history. The endosymbiotic theory proposes that the mitochondria originated as a prokaryotic organism along with the chloroplast—an organelle that conducts photosynthesis, evolved from bacteria. Both of these organelles were taken in by the cell as endosymbionts. Ivan Wallin introduced the idea of the mitochondrion having a prokaryotic ancestry in the 1920s (Jarvis par. 2). However, his theory was ignored and later popularized by Lynn Margulis in 1967. Margulis argued that eukaryotic cells originated as communities of interacting entities (Jarvis par. 3). At first, she was ridiculed by mainstream biologists for many years; fortunately, data that supports the endosymbiotic theory has accumulated over the past few decades to offer a plausible