Some energy-hungry cells, such as those in muscles, contain up to a thousand of these remarkable
organelles. Instead of making electricity, as conventional power plants do, mitochondria use oxygen and complex sugars in a process known as respiration.
Yeast cells and those of the more complex organisms are classified as eukaryotes because, unlike bacteria, they contain distinct nuclei and
organelles.
The researchers report that the particles entered the cells and congregated in
organelles such as the cell-powering mitochondria and the protein-processing Golgi apparatus.
Cells, which are basically bags of
organelles, proteins, and small molecules, might not at first glance seem promising for such computations.
The enzyme, aldehyde dehydrogenase, is normally employed for other purposes by mitochondria, which are the energy-generating
organelles within cells.
For more clues, the researchers zeroed in on the sites of ROS production in diatoms: the photosynthesizing
organelles called chloroplasts, which harvest the sun's energy and produce ROS as a byproduct.
This crucial molecular pathway influences the rate of autophagy, the natural process by which cells break down surplus or dysfunctional proteins, pathogens and
organelles such as mitochondria.
One is stochastic-mode that involves the rearrangement of all
organelles before cytokinesis.
The compartments, called membraneless
organelles, are found throughout the cell.