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Nature 426, 127-128 (13 November 2003) | doi:10.1038/426127a

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Evolutionary biology: Essence of mitochondria

Katrin Henze1 & William Martin1

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For years, a unicellular creature called Giardia has occupied a special place in biology because it was thought to lack mitochondria. But it does have them — though tiny, they pack a surprising anaerobic punch.

All known life-forms are either prokaryotes or eukaryotes; there is nothing in between. Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus and compartments that are surrounded by two membranes, but prokaryotic cells never do.

  1. Institute of Botany, University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.

Correspondence to: Katrin Henze1 Email: katrin.henze@uni-duesseldorf.de

Correspondence to: William Martin1 Email: w.martin@uni-duesseldorf.de