The Origin of Mitochondria in Eukaryotic Cells

Abstract

For a long time, it has been understood that mitochondria in eukaryotic cells didn’t originate in the cells, and was instead the product of an ancestor engulfing and incorporating an ancestor of mitochondria into the cell. However, no one has truly determined when the mitochondria was engulfed; whether the mitochondria was acquired before or after the cell became complex. To get a proper timeline of eukaryogenesis and how the processes in the cell came to function the way that they do, mitochondria becoming an endosymbiont of the cell is essential. If the cell was already complex before the mitochondria arrived in the cell, then the mitochondria might not have had a large impact on how eukaryotic cells work now, but if it arrived early, then mitochondria might contribute greatly to cellular processes. In a recent study, more evidence was discovered that seems to point towards the cell incorporating the mitochondria after it had already become a complex cell in its own right. The data the study resulted in suggests that mitochondria might not have impacted eukaryotic cell development to the extent it might have if it was introduced sooner.