A Distant Cousin of Jellyfish May Survive Without Working Mitochondria

Rory Christian
AP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
Current Event 17
2/24/20

Lambert, Jonathan. “A Distant Cousin of Jellyfish May Survive without Working Mitochondria.” Science News, 24 Feb. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/jellyfish-cousin-may-survive-without-working-mitochondria.  

         A distant cousin of jellyfish that thrives without working mitochondria, the energy-producing part of cells thought to be the foundation of animal life, was recently discovered. The ancestor of all eukaryotes, a large group of organisms with complex cells, engulfed a bacterium, creating a mutually beneficial relationship; this bacterium evolved into mitochondria, which is key in the process of aerobic respiration. Although there are a few known organisms that have lessened their dependence on aerobic respiration by abandoning their mitochondrial genomes, it had never been proposed that complex animals could do the same. Recently, researchers reported that a parasitic cnidarian has this ability - a group of animals that include jellyfish and coral polyps. To dig deeper, Dorothee Huchon, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel and a few of her colleagues analyzed the genomes of members of a large group of parasitic cnidarians called Myxozoa and found that one species' mitochondrial genome was missing. The possible theories for this are endless. For one, the loss of the mitochondrial genome would be an adaption to the low-oxygen environment, therefore not needing to rely on aerobic respiration. The parasite might also be relying on its hosts for energy, rather than its own mitochondria. Finally, shedding unnecessary DNA through evolution might have helped the parasite save energy. Scientists have always viewed the mitochondria as the powerhouses of the cells of eukaryotes; this study shows that things may not be that simple. 

         This research is tremendously surprising for the scientific community and therefore extremely valuable in enriching the knowledge we already have on this topic. The mitochondria, because it is considered to be the powerhouse of the cell, is a very important organelle that is involved with the many processes that keep us alive. Realizing that such a valuable organelle could potentially be unnecessary for some animals, is revolutionary. It is important that we continue to produce more research on this topic and in other areas of the cell because we rely so heavily on the processes that our cells carry out. 

         Overall I found this article to be very helpful in describing the overall summary of the research. It described the history behind mitochondria and how they formed and the type of animals affected. In addition, the article provided multiple possible theories for the results of the experiment, which were all very well described and explained. Despite these positive aspects, I would have liked the article to have gone deeper into what a missing mitochondrial genome is, and whether this could have effects on aspects outside just the reliance organisms have on it. In addition, I would have liked for the article to dig deeper into the implications for society as this could even have some relevance to humans in some way.