Cracking open a cell biology mystery
Two billion years ago somewhere in the primordial soup, one of our single-cell ancestors made a quick lunch out of another. But, in a moment of evolutionary serendipity, the would-be prey worked out a `win-win` symbiotic deal with its predator, gaining a new home and becoming an indispensable source of energy renewal as well as taking on a host of other functions over time. Although there are still many mysteries about the origin and function of these co-opted critters, which were given the name `mitochondria` (from the Greek words for `thread` and `granules`) in 1898, we now know that they are critical in cell respiration, cell death, and cellular homeostasis, and that many degenerative diseases have their roots in dysfunctions in any one or more of those tasks.