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Scientists Find Gut Microbe That Survives Without Mitochondria (npr.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Scientists have found a eukaryote microbe that completely lacks mitochondria, which are the powerhouses inside eukaryotic cells, the type of cells that make up humans, animals, plants and fungi. All eukaryotic cells contain a nucleus, organelles and mitochondrion. Scientists believe they were once free-living bacteria that got engulfed by primitive, ancient cells that were evolving to become what they are today. Anna Karnkowska, a researcher in evolutionary biology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, found a gut microbe that contains no trace that it made any mitochondrial proteins at all. "That should theoretically kill the cell -- it shouldn't exist," she said. The researchers learned that these cells use a kind of machinery that is different than relying on mitochondria to assemble iron-sulfur clusters, which is thought to be a mitochondrial function. Michael Gray, biochemist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, calls the discovery of a eukaryote without any vestige of mitochondrion, "unprecedented." He adds, the results do not negate the idea that the acquisition of a mitochondrion was an important and perhaps defining event in the evolution of eukaryotic cells, because this organism's ancestors had mitochondria that were then lost after the cells acquired their non-mitochondrial system for making iron-sulfur clusters.
This is good news. Finally, life has found a way to prevent a real Parasite Eve situation. Let's hope the mitochondria in existing life forms doesn't revolt.
Yet again, hyperbole trumps facts. The fringes of the eukaryota portion of the tree of life include anaerobic single celled organisms which do not have mitochondria any more, although their ancestors did. Parabasilids, which include the human pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis, are eukaryotes, are anaerobic, and yet are free of mitochondria. This NPR article is pretty much clickbait.
It means that we can expect to be able to create synthetic cells that have simpler energy systems and those systems could be exotic so that the cells could not survive outside of the laboratory. So this knowledge does in fact contain a very important insight that may profoundly effect how safely and cheaply we can make all forms of biological molecules, including drugs, on an industrial scale.
It's simpler than that. Someone is confused. The summary states "eukaryote microbe that completely lacks mitochondria.. All eukaryotic cells contain a nucleus, organelles and mitochondrion."
If all eukaryotic cells contain mitochondria, then it's impossible for them to have discovered a eukaryote that completely lacks mitochondria, it is by definition something completely different.
They also seem confused on plurality - mitochondrion/mitochondria. Are they seriously claiming that all eukaryotic cells contain a single mitochondrion?
And, what good is a discussion of cells without any mention of Golgi apparatus?
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