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Nature 418, 827-829 (22 August 2002) | doi:10.1038/418827a

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Cell evolution: Mitochondria in hiding

Andrew J. Roger1 & Jeffrey D. Silberman2

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The apparent absence of mitochondria in some microbes contributed to the view that they were early offshoots of the eukaryotic line of descent. New evidence tells a different story.

At some point in the history of life, certain bacteria took up residence in other cells, starting a symbiotic relationship that led to their establishment as the mitochondria found within most eukaryotic cells. Eukaryotes are organisms whose cells contain a nucleus, a cytoskeleton, internal membranes and, typically, mitochondria that generate energy by aerobic respiration.

  1. Andrew J. Roger is in the CIAR Program in Evolutionary Biology and Genome Atlantic, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H7, Canada.
    e-mail: Email: aroger@is.dal.ca
  2. Jeffrey D. Silberman is in the Astrobiology Program, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Genetics, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
    e-mail: Email: jsilber@ucla.edu