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A mitochondrion (pl. mitochondria) is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi.Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used throughout the cell as a source of chemical energy. [2]
Main function Structure Organisms Notes chloroplast : photosynthesis, traps energy from sunlight: double-membrane compartment: plants, algae, rare kleptoplastic organisms: has own DNA; theorized to be engulfed by the ancestral archaeplastid cell (endosymbiosis) endoplasmic reticulum
Eukaryotic cells contain organelles including mitochondria, which provide energy for cell functions; chloroplasts, which create sugars by photosynthesis, in plants; and ribosomes, which synthesise proteins. Cells were discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665, who named them after their resemblance to cells inhabited by Christian monks in a monastery.
Peter D. Mitchell proposed the chemiosmotic hypothesis in 1961. [1] In brief, the hypothesis was that most adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis in respiring cells comes from the electrochemical gradient across the inner membranes of mitochondria by using the energy of NADH and FADH 2 formed during the oxidative breakdown of energy-rich molecules such as glucose.
Both organelles, the mitochondria and chloroplasts (in photosynthetic organisms), are compartments that are believed to be of endosymbiotic origin. Other compartments such as peroxisomes , lysosomes , the endoplasmic reticulum , the cell nucleus or the Golgi apparatus are not of endosymbiotic origin.
Mitochondrial matrix has a pH of about 7.8, which is higher than the pH of the intermembrane space of the mitochondria, which is around 7.0–7.4. [5] Mitochondrial DNA was discovered by Nash and Margit in 1963. One to many double stranded mainly circular DNA is present in mitochondrial matrix. Mitochondrial DNA is 1% of total DNA of a cell.
Different metabolic pathways function in the position within a eukaryotic cell and the significance of the pathway in the given compartment of the cell. [3] For instance, the electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation all take place in the mitochondrial membrane .
Simplified structure of a mitochondrion. The intermembrane space (IMS) is the space occurring between or involving two or more membranes. [1] In cell biology, it is most commonly described as the region between the inner membrane and the outer membrane of a mitochondrion or a chloroplast.