To understand how mitochondria respond to a glucose spike coming their way, imagine this: your grandfather, finally retiring after a long career, is able to fulfil his dream of working on a steam train. Everyone in the family thinks he’s crazy for doing it, but he doesn’t care. After some training, he enlists as a stoker in a train’s engine room: his job is to shovel coal onto the fire to generate the steam that pushes the pistons and makes the wheels of the train turn. He’s the mitochondria of the train, if you will. Periodically throughout the day, as the train speeds along the tracks, coal
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