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Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA is in the cell nucleus , and, in plants and algae, the DNA also is ...
In general, mitochondrial DNA lacks introns, as is the case in the human mitochondrial genome; [144] however, introns have been observed in some eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA, [146] such as that of yeast [147] and protists, [148] including Dictyostelium discoideum. [149] Between protein-coding regions, tRNAs are present.
Mitochondria are organelles that synthesize the energy-carrying molecule ATP for the cell by metabolizing carbon-based macromolecules. [39] The presence of DNA in mitochondria and proteins, derived from mtDNA, suggest that this organelle may have been a prokaryote prior to its integration into the proto-eukaryote. [40]
Mitochondria are essentially universal in the eukaryotes, and with their own DNA somewhat resemble prokaryotic cells. Mitochondria are organelles in eukaryotic cells. The mitochondrion is commonly called "the powerhouse of the cell", [30] for its function providing energy by oxidising sugars or fats to produce the energy-storing molecule ATP.
The division between prokaryotes and eukaryotes has been considered the most important distinction or difference among organisms. The distinction is that eukaryotic cells have a "true" nucleus containing their DNA, whereas prokaryotic cells do not have a nucleus. [52]
Prokaryotic cells include Bacteria and Archaea, and lack an enclosed cell nucleus. Eukaryotic cells are found in plants, animals, fungi, and protists. They range from 10 to 100 μm in diameter, and their DNA is contained within a membrane-bound nucleus. Eukaryotes are organisms containing eukaryotic cells.
Mitochondrial DNA is a main source of this extrachromosomal DNA in eukaryotes. [5] The fact that this organelle contains its own DNA supports the hypothesis that mitochondria originated as bacterial cells engulfed by ancestral eukaryotic cells. [6] Extrachromosomal DNA is often used in research into replication because it is easy to identify ...
The viral eukaryogenesis hypothesis posits that eukaryotes are composed of three ancestral elements: a viral component that became the modern nucleus; a prokaryotic cell (an archaeon according to the eocyte hypothesis) which donated the cytoplasm and cell membrane of modern cells; and another prokaryotic cell (here bacterium) that, by endocytosis, became the modern mitochondrion or chloroplast.