WHAT IS MITOCHONDRIA IN DETAILED

MITOCHONDRIA

DEFINITION;

■MITOCHONDRIA (SINGULAR: MITOCHONDRION) ARE DOUBLE MEMBRANE 

BOUND STRUCTURES FOUND ONLY IN EUKARYOTES.

IMPORTANT ORGANELLE;

■MITOCHONDRIA ARE VERY IMPORTANT ORGANELLES OF EUKARYOTIC CELLS,

 BECAUSE THEY ARE INVOLVED IN THE MANUFACTURE AND SUPPLY OF 

ENERGY TO THE CELL. 

POWERHOUSE OF CELL;

➣THEY ARE ALSO KNOWN AS POWERHOUSES OF THE CELL.

OUTER MEMBRANE;

 

➣THE OUTER MEMBRANE OF A MITOCHONDRION IS SMOOTH.

INNER MEMBRANE;

■BUT THE INNER MEMBRANE FORMS MANY INFOLDINGS, CALLED CRISTAE

SINGULAR (CRISTA) IN THE INNER MITOCHONDRIAL MATRIX.

UNDER COMPOUND MICROSCOPE;

■UNDER COMPOUND MICROSCOPE THEY APPEAR TO BE VESICLES, RODS OR

FILAMENTS.

UNDER ELECTRON MICROSCOPE;

■UNDER AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE, THEY SHOW COMPLEX MORPHOLOGY.

  ALTHOUGH THEIR NUMBER, SHAPE AND INTERNAL STRUCTURE VARY WIDELY.

SIMILARITY IN STRUCTURE;

■THE MITOCHONDRIAL MEMBRANES ARE SIMILAR IN STRUCTURE TO OTHER

  CELL MEMBRANES. 

DETAILED STUDIES;

■DETAILED STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT MITOCHONDRIA ALSO CONTAIN DNA AS 

  WELL AS RIBOSOMES.

SELF REPLICATING ORGANELLE;

■THE PRESENCE OF RIBOSOMES AND DNA INDICATES THAT SOME PROTEINS ARE

  SYNTHESIZED IN THEM. IT IS A SELF REPLICATING ORGANELLES.

F1 PARTICLES;

■THE INNER SURFACE OF CRISTAE IN THE MITOCHONDRIAL MATRIX HAS SMALL 

  KNOB LIKE STRUCTURES KNOWN AS F1 PARTICLES. 

CONTAINED;

■MITOCHONDRIAL MATRIX CONTAIN IN IT A LARGE NUMBER OF ENZYMES,

  CO ENZYMES, AND ORGANIC AND INORGANIC SALTS WHICH HELP IN SEVERAL 

  VITAL METABOLIC PROCESSES LIKE KREB'S CYCLE, AEROBIC RESPIRATION,

  FATTY ACID METABOLISM ETC.

AS A RESULT;

 ■AS A RESULT OF THESE METABOLIC PROCESSES THE ENERGY RICH COMPOUND 

ATP (ADENOSINE TRIPHOSPHATE), AND THE ATP THEN PROVIDES ENERGY TO THE 

CELL ON DEMAND.

SIZE OF MITOCHONDRIA;

■THE SIZE AND NUMBER OF MITOCHONDRIA VARIES AND DEPENDS ON THE

PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF THE CELL. 

WHY IT IS CALLED POWERHOUSE OF CELL?

■MITOCHONDRIA EXTRACT ENERGY FROM DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF FOOD

AND CONVERT IT IN THE FORM OF ATP. 

THIS ENERGY IS USED FOR VARIOUS CELLULAR ACTIVITIES. THE SPENT

 ENERGY, WHICH IS IN THE FORM OF ADP IS REGENERATED BY THE

 MITOCHONDRIA INTO ATP. MITOCHONDRIA IS THEREFORE DESCRIBED 

 AS POWERHOUSE OF THE CELL.