Mitochondria, Efficient Energy Production with Dangerous Side Effects?

Scientists from Harvard Teaching Medical Hospital have discovered that Mitochondria respond to trauma by creating patient inflammation and a response not unlike bacterial infection. Best known as the energy producing powerhouses of the cell (being home of the Citric Acid Cycle and oxidative phosphorylation), Mitochondria have long been recognized as ancient symbiots – not originally part of the eukaryotic cell line, but were once prokaryotes that have, through a selectively advantageous symbiotic relationship, become incorporated into the eukaryotic cell line. These organelles have their own genetic code, their own DNA, their own plasma membrane, and are able to reproduce independently of the cell. Now, this newly understood behavior may shed light onto their ancient bacterial origin.

Beth Israel scientists have shown that during respiration, molecules from spent or disrupted mitochondria escape the cell and enter the bloodstream causing an immune response with  an evolutionarily conserved similarity to bacterial infection. The study suggests that during times of severe injury when the body is undergoing rapid metabolism in response to the damage, this process is elevated and thus allows larger concentrations of the spent mitochondrial DNA to induce a cascading response in the patient. These circulating mitochondrial protein signatures ultimately cause the body to respond as though a bacterial infection were running rampant. This immune response leads to a syndrome known as Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) that can be very dangerous leading to a racing heart, fever, breathing difficulties, and eventual organ failure.

It’s interesting to think that the body contains self-destructive mechanisms like this. However problematic these by-products may be, they are definite parts of mitochondrial energy production and therefore a requirement for life as we know.

Zhang et al. Circulating mitochondrial DAMPs cause inflammatory responses to injury. Nature (2010) vol. 464 (7285) pp. 104-107.

No related posts.

This entry was posted in Biology, Cell Biology, Evolutionary Biology, Health & Medicine. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

10 Comments

  1. Posted May 4, 2011 at 6:09 am | Permalink

    K8Wu9x , [url=http://nztbrzlwnjuo.com/]nztbrzlwnjuo[/url], [link=http://pbkrieydbpsd.com/]pbkrieydbpsd[/link], http://lrrfnrnkelsm.com/

  2. Posted June 21, 2011 at 4:45 pm | Permalink

    Great post. Like all biology students I’ve learned about the endosymbiont theory of mitochondria, but it had never even occurred to me to think about how they would respond to trauma. It’s very interesting that they’ve maintained this response. Check out my website (linked to my name) for biology supplies, textbooks, items from the Discovery Channel Store, and more.

  3. Curt Creelman
    Posted July 22, 2011 at 12:23 am | Permalink

    i like this article

  4. Posted May 9, 2012 at 4:39 pm | Permalink

    I want to get some raspberry ketones – does anyone know the best site for raspberry ketones?

  5. Posted May 14, 2012 at 11:44 am | Permalink

    free bingo read more online bingo for free

4466 Trackbacks

  1. By liberar blackberry 8100 on May 16, 2012 at 5:59 pm

    Liberar and Blackberry…

    [...]It’s great that folks nonetheless know a superb deal about element like that. It really is good to understand numerous persons nonetheless care about this[...]…

  2. By Indiana Pacers on May 16, 2012 at 10:39 pm

    Websites worth visiting…

    [...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]……

  3. By Coach Purses On Sale on May 17, 2012 at 4:05 am

    Ok. I believe you’re appropriate!…

    Incredibly frequently I go to this blog site. It incredibly a great deal is pleasant to me. Thank you the author!…

  4. By Lynchburg photographer on May 17, 2012 at 9:52 am

    Hello…

    I dugg some of you post as I thought they were very beneficial very useful…

  5. By Locksmith In UK on May 17, 2012 at 9:54 am

    Locksmith In UK…

    [...]Here are several of the web pages we recommend for our visitors[...]…

  6. By final phase fat loss on May 17, 2012 at 10:46 am

    Hey…

    I regard something genuinely interesting about your weblog so I bookmarked ….

  7. By john on May 17, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Hello…

    Keep up the wonderful piece of work, I read few blog posts on this site and I think that your site is very interesting and holds sets of good info….

  8. By http://google-redirect-virus-removal.org on May 17, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    Coolest blog entry……

    [...] even while web pages we link down below are noticeably not affiliated with ours, we really feel they are really worth a go over, so have a look [...]…

  9. By Spotify on May 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Great Site…

    [...]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[...]…

  10. By free zip file opener on May 17, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    Great design…

    [...]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[...]…

  11. By replica watches on May 17, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    replica watches…

    [...]usually posts some extremely fascinating stuff like this. If you are new to this site[...]…

  12. By stand up paddle boards on May 17, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    Well written content…

    [...]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[...]…

  13. By miami beach taxi on May 18, 2012 at 12:40 am

    Great information…

    [...]just below, are some totally unrelated sites to ours, however, they are definitely worth checking out[...]…

  14. By Blog du Ouistiti on May 18, 2012 at 7:17 am

    Recommended websites…

    Amazing blog! Thanks for the great contribution with this post….

  15. By cctv installers on May 18, 2012 at 8:41 am

    cctv installers…

    [...]very couple of internet websites that transpire to become in depth below, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[...]…

  16. By cash-book on May 18, 2012 at 11:03 am

    cash-book…

    [...]Here is a superb Blog You might Come across Intriguing that we Encourage You[...]…

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

*