Peter E Thorsness, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
Theodor Hanekamp, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
Published online: July 2003
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001381
Mitochondria are double-membrane cellular organelles containing their own genetic system and are found in nearly every eukaryotic cell. The endosymbiotic hypothesis postulates that a proto-mitochondrion, an ancestor of present-day bacteria, colonized a eukaryotic cell and established a symbiotic relationship to the mutual benefit of both organisms.
Keywords: mitochondrial genome; origins and evolution of mitochondria
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Figure 1. The salient features of a mitochondrion.
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| References | |
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| Further Reading | |
| Alfonzo JD, Thiemann O and Simpson L (1997) The mechanism of U insertion/deletion RNA editing in kinetoplastid mitochondria. Nucleic Acids Research 25: 3751–3759. | |
| Gray MW, Lang BF, Cedergren R et al. (1998) Genome structure and gene content in protist mitochondrial DNAs. Nucleic Acids Research 26: 865–878. | |
| Leblanc C, Richard O, Kloareg B et al. (1997) Origin and evolution of mitochondria: what have we learnt from red algae? Current Genetics 31: 193–207. | |
| Maier RM, Zeltz P, Kossel H et al. (1996) RNA editing in plant mitochondria and chloroplasts. Plant Molecular Biology 32: 343–365. | |
| book Margulis L (1981) Symbiosis in Cell Evolution: Life and its Environment on the Early Earth. San Francisco: WH Freeman. | |
| Moyes CD, Battersby BJ and Leary SC (1998) Regulation of muscle mitochondrial design. Journal of Experimental Biology 201: 299–307. | |
| Paquin B, Laforest MJ, Forget L et al. (1997) The fungal mitochondrial genome project: evolution of fungal mitochondrial genomes and their gene expression. Current Genetics 31: 380–395. | |
| Shadel GS and Clayton DA (1997) Mitochondrial DNA maintenance in vertebrates. Annual Review of Biochemistry 66: 409–435. | |
| Thorsness PE and Weber ER (1996) Escape and migration of nucleic acids between chloroplasts, mitochondria, and the nucleus. International Review of Cytology 165: 207–234. | |
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