Mitochondrion, plural mitochondria (noun, “MITE-oh-CON-dree-on”, plural “MITE-oh-CON-dree-ah”)
These are structures inside cells that convert glucose, a type of sugar, into adenosine triphosphate or ATP. This molecule provides energy a cell can use for all its needs.
Most cells in your body, except red blood cells, have mitochondria. A single liver cell may have as many as 2,000. Unlike most other cellular structures, each mitochondrion has its own DNA — a molecular code that controls its function. This might be because mitochondria originated as free-living bacteria. At some point in the very distant past, one of those bacteria may have been gobbled up by a bigger cell. But it didn’t get digested. Instead, the mitochondrion may have produced energy that the bigger cell could use. It would have been the start of a beautiful relationship.
In a sentence
The DNA inside mitochondria can be used to figure out animal ancestry, such as when wolves turned into dogs.
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