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Mitochondria: The Powerhouse of the Cell… and a Whole Lot More
If you ask anyone to state one fact that they remember from grade school biology, you often get the same response: “Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell!” And it’s true. Mitochondria take the building blocks of the food we eat, and convert it into ATP, cellular energy currency. It’s a pretty important job!
But mitochondria do a lot more than make energy – they also control the fate of the cell! Apoptosis – sometimes also called “programmed cell death” – is a fail-safe mechanism inherent in every cell of our body. If things start going wrong, cells initiate this internal kill switch to avoid bigger problems down the road (think cancer). It’s better to clean house and get rid of a damaged cell before it can cause too much trouble.
The mitochondria receives and processes signals related to whether its cell should fight for survival or call it quits. Once the decision is made to terminate, pores form in the mitochondrial membranes, allowing the release of proteins from the intermembrane space and irreversibly committing the cell to death. Unsurprisingly, cancer finds a way to shut down this protective plan, allowing cells to continue surviving and multiplying while damage accumulates, and forming a growing tumor that no longer plays by the rules.
So the next time you are asked what mitochondria are for, give them the credit they deserve: they decide between life or death! (For the cell at least…)
