Access

Books and Arts

Nature 437, 1235-1236 (27 October 2005) | doi:10.1038/4371235a; Published online 26 October 2005

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

Power for life

John F. Allen1

Top

Did the humble mitochondrion — the powerhouse of the cell — play a key role in the evolution of life?

BOOK REVIEWEDPower, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life

by Nick Lane

Oxford University Press: 2005. 320 pp. £18.99, $30

How living things obtain, store, convert and use energy once aroused intense debate. Careers and reputations were built and destroyed in the 'ox-phos wars' about the mechanism of oxidative phosphorylation, in which electron transport is coupled to the phosphorylation of ADP, storing energy in the form of ATP.