Function of Mitochondria and Its Environmental Interaction

Introduction3

Discussion3

Mitochondria Architecture3

History of Mitochondria4

Origin of Mitochondria5

Functions of Mitochondria5

Conversion of Energy5

Citric acid cycle & Pyruvate5

Heat Production5

Storage of calcium ions6

Other functions of Mitochondria6

Dysfunction and Diseases7

Conclusion7

Function of Mitochondria and Its Environmental Interaction

Introduction

From past fifty years Mitochondria has attracted the attention of biochemists or molecular biologists. They are present in the abundance and can easily be secluded from the various issues. Mitochondria are also studied in other fields of study such as molecular medicine, apoptosis and evolutionary biology. Initially it was realized by the researchers that mitochondria plays a significant role in producing cellular energy (Gracia, j., 2012). Structural and functional design of mitochondria attracted the concentration of famous chemist and Nobel laureate “Peter Mitchell's” who proposed a theory in the same context which he named chemiosmotic theory. Since that time, researchers from the field of mathematical biology, biophysics, structural biology etc are studying the functions and structures of the mitochondria deeply.

Discussion

Mitochondria Architecture

Structure and architecture of mitochondria is very complex and composite. Structure of typical mitochondria is 7 mille-meters long with a diameter of 0.5 to 1 mille-meter. Numbers of mitochondria in a tissue depends upon the nature and shape of a cell. The shape of mitochondria varies from each other, they may appear as filamentous, rods and spheres bodies, but there overall general architecture is same. Number of mitochondria in a cell differs on the basis of energy requirement of a tissue (Singh, K., Costello, L., 2009). A large number of mitochondria are available in the tissues that require high capacity of energy such as skeletal muscle and kidney tissue.

Mitochondria composed of two membranes, and each membrane consist of phospholipids layers. Both of these membrane vary from each other in terms of there appearance and bio-chemical properties. The inner membrane encloses the matrix structure known as cristae. It helps in increasing the surface of the inner membrane, which carries oxidative phosporylation. These both membranes are distinguished by different composition of phospholipids or protein to lipid ratio. There is a protein to lipid ratio of 50:50 in the outer membrane of mitochondria. Whereas the same ratio id 80:20 in the inner membrane.

History of Mitochondria

In 1980s first examination of intracellular structure that represents mitochondria was published.

Late in 1894, Richard Altman named them bioblasts and recognized them as cell organelles.

In 1898 biologist Carl Benda named them mitochondria

In 1904 Frederic Meves made the 1st documented study of mitochondria in the cells of plants. In addition Fredrick with the help of Claudius Regaud suggested the structure of mitochondria is composed of lipids and proteins (Schaffer, S., Suleiman, S., 2010),.

Origin of Mitochondria

Basically origin of mitoch9ondria can be evaluated and seen under the light of two hypotheses. These two hypothesis are autogenous and endosymbiotic. The autogenous hypothesis argues that mitochondrion was developed from the division of the DNA. On the other hand, endosymbikotic hypothesis suggest that originally mitochondria was a prokaryotic cell, whose main function was the implementation of oxidative mechanism in a cell ...