Mitochondria are very important for the basics of basic processes of life. Anything that goes wrong with mitochondria is going to contribute to all sorts of other diseases. If we get mutations from our mother in our mitochondrial DNA, our mitochondria can't work that well. Under those circumstances, energy-dependent cells like muscle cells, brain cells will show up as not working well and usually childhood diseases will arise. We'd predict there would be a strong push through selection to come to something more complicated but let's see what we find when we go out to look for it.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth.
Inside each cell of every complex organism there are structures known as mitochondria. The 19th century scientists who first observed them thought they were bacteria which had somehow invaded the cells they were studying. We now understand that mitochondria take components from the food we eat and convert them into energy.
Mitochondria are essential for complex life, but as the components that run our metabolisms they can also be responsible for a range of diseases – and they probably play a role in how we age. The DNA in mitochondria is only passed down the maternal line. This means it can be used to trace population movements deep into human history, even back to an ancestor we all share: mitochondrial Eve.
With
Mike Murphy
Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at the University of Cambridge
Florencia Camus
NERC Independent Research Fellow at University College London
and
Nick Lane
Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London
Producer Luke Mulhall