By Kara Rogers
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/08/the-mysteries-of-mitochondria/
Out of all the molecules and structures that make up our cells, mitochondria are among the most intriguing. They are best known for their role as teeny factories that squeeze large amounts of energy out of scraps of nutrients. But they also house important clues about the evolution of life on Earth, and the evolution of humans in particular.
The peculiarities of mitochondria were evident to some of the first scientists who observed them. In the 1890s, German pathologist Richard Altmann described the little powerhouses as bioblasts and considered them to be autonomously functioning beings, postulating that they may even be bacteria. Altmann’s ideas were heavily criticized by his colleagues, but many of his notions, including his theory that bioblasts fulfilled important metabolic functions and contributed some genetic role in cells, were basically correct.
In 1898 Carl Benda, who stained the organelles with alizarin and crystal violet dyes to observe their internal structure, renamed Altmann’s bioblast “mitochondrion.” About a decade and a half later, cell biologists B.F. Kingsbury and Otto Warburg independently suggested that mitochondria play a role incellular respiration, in which oxidation-reduction reactions convert energy in the chemical bonds of nutrients into cellular fuel. Their hypotheses, however, weren’t confirmed until the 1950s and ’60s, when knowledge of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the fuel molecule of cells, was combined with emerging information about electron transport, oxidative phosphorylation, and enzymes located in the inner mitochondrial membrane.
But motoring cells along by providing them with energy formed only a part of early investigations of mitochondria. In 1927 American anatomist Ivan Wallin revived Altmann’s earlier notion of mitochondria as bacterially derived entities. Wallin set forth his ideas inSymbionticism and the Origin of Species, in which he suggested that symbiotic bacteria played a fundamental role in the evolution of species. Wallin proposed that mitochondria at one time had been symbiotic bacteria, and having infected primitive cells, these symbionts made possible the rise of new species of organisms.
American biologist Lynn Margulis later expanded on Wallin’s symbionticism, developing an endosymbiotic theory in the 1960s to explain the origin of cells. According to the theory presented by Margulis, independent symbiotic bacterial cells combined, ultimately producing eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei). Similar to the ideas of Altmann and Wallin, Margulis’s theory was initially controversial. But as more became known about mitochondria and bacteria, the notion of a symbiotic past seemed less far-fetched and increasingly likely.
Mitochondria are unlike any other organelle found in animal cells. In addition to their metabolic functions, they store calcium and proteins that mediate oxidative stress, and they influence cell death and growth. Their two-membrane structure, unique genome, and use of binary fission for reproduction, all of which are shared by chloroplasts, their plant cell counterparts, indicate a common evolutionary history with single-celled organisms (prokaryotes, such as bacteria).
Studies of the mitochondrial genome, which in humans consists of just 37 genes and is inherited only through one’s maternal lineage, have provided critical insight into human evolution. Every person on Earth shares an identical fragment of mitochondrial DNA, which has been passed down through generations over the course of some 200,000 years from a common female ancestor, known as Mitochondrial Eve.
Scientists landed on the Mitochondrial Eve theory by tracing the inheritance of mitochondria and variations in mitochondrial DNA in humans through many generations in history. The mitochondrial genome of this single woman was transmitted to all subsequent generations of humans through chance. Her mitochondrial DNA incidentally usurped that of other women as the genetics of the human population drifted and evolved.
These findings have been surprising and invaluable in advancing scientists’ understanding of the history of Homo sapiens. They have also created new avenues for the investigation of human migration and efforts to determine the geographical origins of human populations.
Kara Rogers is Britannica’s biomedical sciences editor. She holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Arizona, where her research focused on understanding the role of antioxidants in mitochondria. Rogers has written for various publications on topics ranging from current medical research and eugenics to parasitic and vector-borne diseases.
Photo credit: Mitochondria (red) are found throughout the cytoplasm of almost all eukaryotic cells (Dr. Gopal Murti—Visuals Unlimited/Getty Images).