The evolution of cells is a hot topic amongst biochemists as it answers the most fundamental question a biochemist can ask: How can a 'random' collisions of molecules bind together in such a way to create life?
Biochemists and biologists commonly believe that mitochondria (the little 'power houses' of cells that produce ATP through oxidative phosphorylation and the citric acid cycle) were once bacteria that lived independently of the eukaryotic cell. A cell is thought to have eaten the bacterial mitochondria through phagocytosis, a process on which a cell takes on an external body as shown in the YouTube animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1xPpsxvhVA. After the mitochondria was taken on to the eukaryotic cell biologist conceive the cell and bacteria to have existed ever since in symbiosis.
Evidence shows that all know eukaryotes have or once have had mitochondria, suggesting that perhaps this symbiotic relationship and the uptake of mitochondria occurred several times in the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Yet the evidence for mitochondria once being bacteria is not certain. Mitochondria are the right size to be seen as bacteria and this may explain the initial assumption. However we would expect if mitochondria were once independent bacteria they would have an independent genome coding for all the proteins the mitochondria needs for its self. In fact the mitochondria only has 20 genes that code for proteins and the nucleus of the eukaryote coding for the masses. This may or may not support that the eukaryote may have constructed these little organelles its self, due to the paradoxical notion of when we look at the mutations in the mitochondria's genome compared to the cells. Research has proved that mitochondria have evolved far further than the cell, making growing mitochondria in a culture like we could easily with bacteria now, not impossible, but very hard.
The evidence is inconclusive to the 'how' of the evolution of mitochondria in eukaryote cells but the 'why' is apparent; giving cells energy and intern fuelling life. And the answer the the question of how cells developed in the first place is not a mystery when we consider the time frame they evolved from atoms to molecules to life in: 1000's of millions of years. Long enough for a few convenient coincidences to occur in.
Biochemists and biologists commonly believe that mitochondria (the little 'power houses' of cells that produce ATP through oxidative phosphorylation and the citric acid cycle) were once bacteria that lived independently of the eukaryotic cell. A cell is thought to have eaten the bacterial mitochondria through phagocytosis, a process on which a cell takes on an external body as shown in the YouTube animation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1xPpsxvhVA. After the mitochondria was taken on to the eukaryotic cell biologist conceive the cell and bacteria to have existed ever since in symbiosis.
Evidence shows that all know eukaryotes have or once have had mitochondria, suggesting that perhaps this symbiotic relationship and the uptake of mitochondria occurred several times in the evolution of eukaryotic cells. Yet the evidence for mitochondria once being bacteria is not certain. Mitochondria are the right size to be seen as bacteria and this may explain the initial assumption. However we would expect if mitochondria were once independent bacteria they would have an independent genome coding for all the proteins the mitochondria needs for its self. In fact the mitochondria only has 20 genes that code for proteins and the nucleus of the eukaryote coding for the masses. This may or may not support that the eukaryote may have constructed these little organelles its self, due to the paradoxical notion of when we look at the mutations in the mitochondria's genome compared to the cells. Research has proved that mitochondria have evolved far further than the cell, making growing mitochondria in a culture like we could easily with bacteria now, not impossible, but very hard.
The evidence is inconclusive to the 'how' of the evolution of mitochondria in eukaryote cells but the 'why' is apparent; giving cells energy and intern fuelling life. And the answer the the question of how cells developed in the first place is not a mystery when we consider the time frame they evolved from atoms to molecules to life in: 1000's of millions of years. Long enough for a few convenient coincidences to occur in.
