These organelles, later renamed mitochondria, were found to be the cell’s fuel generators; the furnaces that glow and burn constantly to produce the energy needed for life. There is some debate about the origin of mitochondria. But one of the most intriguing, and widely accepted, theories is that more than a billion years ago, organelles were, in fact, microbial cells that developed the capacity to produce energy via a chemical reaction involving oxygen and glucose. These microbial cells were engulfed or captured by other cells and entered into a working partnership of sorts, a phenomenon
...more
