Mitochondria and their relatives constitute a wide range of organelles, only some of which function in aerobic respiration. Mitochondrial remnants from different anaerobic lineages show a striking degree of functional convergence.

The mitochondrion is often referred as the cellular powerhouse because organelle oxidizes organic acids and NADH derived from nutriments, converting around 40% of Gibbs free energy change these reactions into ATP, major currency cell metabolism. Mitochondria are thus microscopic furnaces that inevitably release heat a by-product reactions, this contributes to body warming, especially in endothe...

Since 1970, the DNA polymerase gamma (PolG) has been known to be the DNA polymerase responsible for replication and repair of mitochondrial DNA, and until recently it was generally accepted that this was the only polymerase present in mitochondria. However, recent data has challenged that opinion, as several polymerases are now proposed to have activity in mitochondria. To date, their exact rol...